Each day is Day X until we got Kadterschmiede back
…and until the existence of Kanal, Linie, Potse/Drugstore, M99 is no longer threatened.
The list of projects in Berlin facing eviction is long. The pressure on alternative living spaces and other places where me can meet up, exchange our ideas and develop alternatives is constantly increasing. So is our anger. We’re pissed off.
On June 22nd cops broke into R94 at 7:30am without prior notice. They were sent by a politician acting on the demands of a former Aparheit attourney. In the following process of eviction they destroyed most of Kadterschmiede, the yard and the ground floor and threw out everything that was left. Since then the rest of the house is under siege by securities and cops.
The people living in R94 have been assaulted verbally, physically and sexualized by the besiegers. They have lost any kind of privacy and are facing random controls when entering their home. People without papers who had been living in the house so they don’t have to face the dehumanizing situations in the Lager (=official refugee camps) before the attack had to rashly leave their homes and have been unable to return.
Pawel Kapica, the property manager, issued a press release saying that the evicted parts of R94 will be transformed into living spaces for refugees. The rooms are supposed to be rented according to the Berliner Mietspiegel which dictates how much rent you can charge. The absurdity of the situation lies in there because the organisations usually renting places for refugees (like LaGeSo or Jobcenter) do not pay that much rent. Therefore the living spaces that are currently being built will not be accessible to refugees.
Aside of that anybody moving into such a space would still be subject to constant control by securities and cops inside the Gefahrengebiet (the so called ‘danger zone’ that the Senate declared in Nordkiez. It gives them a lot of additional rights like random stops & searches, ID checks or temporary bans from the entire area).
For more than 26 years the housing projects in Rigaerstrasse have been places of self organisation in an area massively affected by gentrification. The struggle and resistance of people living in the projects together with their neighbours are the reason why Rigaerstrasse doesn’t look like other parts of Berlin which are dominated by luxury housing and mirror finish fronts.
The Senate of Berlin established a Gefahrendgebiet in and around Rigaerstrasse more than 8 months ago to try and control as well as intimidate the people living there by constant police presence.
They were unable to stop the resistance inside the quarter and we will do do everything to keep Rigaerstrasse as an untamable place where we can try and live together in a way we chose.
The current state of siege is unbearable for Rigaer and the entire quarter surrounding it, yet the resistance against it is diverse and ongoing.
We do not want cops in our quarter, no Gefahrengebiet, no Gentrification and especially nobody who decides how refugees have to live here other than themselves.
We struggle for a society living in solidarity instead of capitalism. For more squats and for a quarter shaped by resistance.
There will be a public hearing in court to get back Kadterschmiede on the fifth of July at 10am. The court adress is Landgericht Berlin, Littenstrasse 12-17, 10179 Berlin. Show up at the hearing!
Lets turn the entire city into a Gefahrengebiet for the state that day. Prepare yourselves and organize actions in solidarity with self organized projects. Be out of control, angry and creative. For a life without Lager, for self organized spaces and autonomous structures. Be on the lookout for announcements. There will be an information telephone, we will publish the number in the next days.
You can ask for sleeping places, contact the email address below:
schlafboerserigaer [at] inbox [dot] lv
#Tag14
Rigaer94 / Kadterschmiede
https://squ.at/r/5fm
https://rigaer94.squat.net/
Events in Berlin https://radar.squat.net/en/events/city/Berlin
Groups in Berlin https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/city/berlin
Stressfaktor https://radar.squat.net/de/stressfaktor
source: http://rigaer94.squat.net/2016/07/03/r94-action-day-05-07-2016/
