Berlin: Second night of anti-state violence in Friedrichshain

20170528_Friedrichshain_BerlinThis Saturday night, May 28, after a film screening, activists started digging a ditch across Liebig Street in Friedrichshain. The goal was to stop police cars and other undesirable traffic on this road, which builds the Dorfplatz at the crossing with Rigaer Street.

The ditch was the pretext for two Riot Police vans to take position on the spot. After a while, they suddenly attacked some neighbours, sitting in front of a house. In the same moment, more two units rushed in the street and tried an assault on houseprojekt Rigaer94. Crazy pigs started beating everybody they could grab. But very fast, neighbours and chaoten began throwing stones against officers.

Three more Riot Police vans arrived with high speed, but they could not handle on the small road. Stones were coming from everywhere, some pigs were neither able to leave their car nor were others to find a safe space on the street. This lead to a panic of this unit, their commanding van was damaged and escaped. Some vans tried to flee without their crew, others tried to carry away the arrested five people. In the end the helicopter arrived again and 65 cops had to leave the scene. [Read More]

Berlin: Rigaer Street sends aggressive solidarity to GARE & everybody resisting state oppression

Rigaerstrasse_soli_banner_Gare_squatWhen some people learned about the recent trouble to Gare Squat in Exarchia (Athens), they decided on Friday evening 26/05, to hang a banner in Rigaer Street, Friedrichshain (Berlin). After some minutes, Riot Police and Undercover Agents arrived at the scene and stole the banner. Meanwhile more people had gathered in nearby streets and ambushed a cruising Police vehicle with a rain of stones.
Soon more police was alerted to Rigaer Street, which is named a Dangerzone in official announcements. But also more people came to protect the area and started throwing stones on cops.
More Anti Riot Units and a helicopter emerged and took a threatening position in front of the squat Rigaer 94. They did not find anyone because rioters left quickly.
Now the mainstream media and the scumbags from political parties will scream their never ending story about the dramatic anarchist violence in this area. But we know, the war has already begun and, infected by the virus of freedom, we are going to build lawless areas in their cities of surveillance.
Let us kick out police and their friends. [Read More]

Athens: Announcement from Gare squat. Call for vigilance against the mafia branch of repression

Gare_squat_Kallidromiou_74_AthensYesterday, Wednesday, May 24th, Gare squat was the target of organized thugs. At midday, during clashes with MAT forces around Exarchia Square, there was a confrontation of protesters with a shopkeeper who tried to prevent a barricade-defense being set up against cops. This particular shopkeeper is known in the neighborhood of Exarchia as being connected with circles of protection rackets, prostitution and drugs, and with state security. A group from an adjacent movement space rushed to defend him. The incident with a portion of those present athte barricade, with this group has been the reason for GARE to attribute responsibility for these events as a whole.

This particular group has been denounced in open movement processes in the recent past by a multitude of collectives, for authoritarian attempts and military-style enforcement against self-organized efforts. The group supposedly acts on behalf of movement spaces and forms. But these, although they have been called upon to denounce the actions of this group, are silent instead.

Immediately after the incident, this specific group along with another bunch of thugs gathered menacingly outside the GARE squat. This larger collection included members of gangs who sell protection to the area’s shops, and who have been involved in attacks and injuries against radicals in the past. After they all had gone, later some of the original problematic group came to our assembly and said they would turn against our squat if we do not identify and deliver to them within 24 hours the people who confronted them at the events earlier in the square. [Read More]

Amsterdam: Refugee collective We Are Here wins court case and can stay in the Vluchtlumumba till 3 july

20170409_Amsterdam_Wij_Zijn_Hier_Vlucht_LumumbaYesterday, the Somali group of We Are Here won the court case against the State of the Netherlands with regard to their stay at Florijn 8-11 in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. The authorities ordered the immediate eviction of the ‘Vluchtlumumba’, which they started to inhabit on 9 April 2017. However, their request to stay until the end of the Ramadan has been granted by the Court of Amsterdam.

The group consists of 20 men who have been in the Netherlands for a long time. Some of them have been here for up to 20 years, without the possibility to go back, or to lead a normal life in The Netherlands. After being evicted from a previous building last year, they were on the street for four months. As many of them have various health problems and as they needed more time to find another place, the group decided not to leave the building as ordered, but demanded to be allowed to stay until 3 July. [Read More]

Setúbal (Portugal): Stop Eviction of COSA Squat

Bulletin from C.O.S.A. in struggle. Gathering at May 27 in Setúbal, Portugal.


[Read More]

Thessaloniki: Call for Solidarity

20170523_skg_ThessalonikiLast summer the Squat Orfanotrofio in Thessaloniki was evicted and demolished by the Greek government. One commerade faces repressions now for the squating alone, standing at court for all of us, on the trial on the 31.05.2017. We call for solidarity.

The story begins with the squatting of the Orfanotrofeio in December 2015. Thousands of migrants have been declared illegal overnight and are stuck on Greek territory. Within a months they were also displaced from Idomeni, an massive self-made and to a great extent self-managed settlement near the border with the Rep of Macedonia. They were moved to isolated camps throughout the country, under the surveillance of the army and the NGOs.

Those of us who had been visiting Idomeni frequently during the summer of 2015 had seen a wall being built in front of our eyes, people practically living in the mud, being beaten up by the police, giving birth in offhand tents, burning anything they could find from the ruble for some heat in the freezing cold, being moved around from town to town and from camp to camp, in buses that would just show up and then disappear, being constantly stopped for pointless checks in the middle of nowhere on their way to the border. If when they made it to the border, they were often pushed back to Athens, where many of them fell into the hands of smugglers and even organ harvesting mafias. [Read More]

Bochum: Cops threaten to evict squat on Herner Str. 131

squatbodemo_TagX_BochumIn Bochum, Germany there is a growing solidarity with the people who squatted an empty building in the Herner Str 131. Police authorities are not so amused. They threaten to evict the building. Activists ask people to be ready for eviction alerts. A demo is planned and decentral solidarity actions are appreciated.

On the 19th of May a group of people squatted an empty building at the Herner Str 131 in Bochum, Germany. The cops came to the house but did not interfere. Over the weekend there was a lot of contact with neighbours and supporters. The activists organised a barbeque party in their garden and lots of people came to discuss the occupation. Apart from places to live, the squatters want to establish a social center in the building.

The tenanst association in Bochum published a support message, saying that more than 7000 apartments are still empty in the German city. They continued their message by saying that people with low wages have more and more problems to find an affordable place to live and that half of the refugees are still living in refugee shelters (lager). The tenants association concluded their message by saying that they wish the owner and the police will not evict the squatters and instead should talk with the squatters. [Read More]

Bochum: New building squatted

20170519_Hernerstraße_131_BochumParallel to the “reclaim the city!” night dance demo an empty building on the Herner street 131 (Herner Straße) in Bochum, Germany was squatted tonight.

In a statement at Linksunten Indymedia the squatters wrote that they want to establish a social center and living space in the building. The first floor of Herner Street 131 will be used for the social center and the floors above will be used by people to live.

Like many buildings in Bochum, the building was empty for years. At the same time the rents in the city go up and there is almost no space for noncommercial cultural and political projects. With this occupation the squatters resist aginst the capitalist exploitation logic, which only allows buildings to be used when its profitable. Instead of this logic we want to use the building self-organized and orientated to the needs of the people.

Although the cops were at the back of the house, the squatters tweeted at 10:40pm tonight that they don’t think that the cops will evict them tonight. There is a great atmosphere there right now. If people want to support they are welcome to come to Bochum. [Read More]

Denmark: Wave of raids and arrests in Copenhagen

arna17mAt 6 am yesterday morning cops raided 10 addresses in Copenhagen, Denmark. One of the buildings that was raided was Bumzen in Baldersgade. 25 persons were arrested and 9 of them are at risk of being placed in pre-trail custody. A report and a statement by the Autonomous Revolutionary Nordic Alliance (ARNA).

With law after law, power and its police are shrinking the boundaries for the types of resistance that is possible. By constantly pressuring those who resist, they limit the possibilities of action, and even the ability to imagine a world without authorities and submission.

The unbreakable bond between thought and action is what characterizes the anti-authoritarian revolutionists. We don’t believe that by submitting to law and power today, a society without power can be achieved tomorrow. That is why our ideas are in continuous interaction with our actions. With the ‘respect-package’ (respektpakken), the politicians are attacking this bond when they claim that one person can be held accountable for the actions of other people because of the ideas, which these people express, and the politicians acknowledge this too. The fact of the matter is that they are right: every anti-authoritarian rebel shares the ideological responsibility for actions of rebellion, and we’re even proud of it! That is why we are in a state of solidarity with those affected by the repression. For us, it is not important whether they are guilty or not. Those which we show solidarity with are the actions of rebellion of which they stand accused. [Read More]

Manchester’s self-organised homeless challenge Andy Burnham to join them

201705_Cornerhouse_Cinema_ManchesterOrganisers at squatted former arts space Cornerhouse have called on new Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to go a step further than simple charity donations and engage directly with homeless people in finding solutions to the city’s rough sleeping crisis. Cornerhouse, owned by Network Rail, has been occupied by homeless people and Manchester Activist Network (MAN) since January and successfully saw off an eviction attempt late last month.

Writing in response to Burnham’s recent pledge to give 15% of his pay to homelessness charities and “put words into action” to help the rising street homeless population, MAN said:

This sounds great Andy, however what do (former mayor and new business and economy deputy) Richard Leese, (power player and former Manchester council chief exec) Howard Bernstein and (Manchester city centre tsar) Pat Karney think about this?

From the information we have been provided with it seems that Leese will continue to have the large sway of the Devo (devolutionary budget) mayoral power and you will be pushed out to the outer regions. Maybe this is why Oldham and Rochdale were mooted as potential places for shelters. Will you have any real Mayoral power or is this just a token? [Read More]

Turin: Police storm several occupied spaces and make 6 arrests

20170503_Asilo_Occupato_Torino_At 6:30am on 3rd May antiriot police and carabinieri squads coordinated by Digos and ROS, stormed Asilo Occupato, the squats on Corso Giulio Cesare and Borgo Dora and two houses in Turin and Barge; the local media also mentioned raids carried out in Bologna and Cuneo, of which we have no confirmation.

The pretext for this repressive operation, which led to six comrades being arrested, is an alleged scuffle that took place outside Asilo last February at the end of a night event; the charges are kidnapping, aggravated damage and resisting public officials. Antonio from Lecce, Antonio Sardo, Camille, Fabiola, Fran and Giada were taken to the prison of Le Vallette, and there’s mention of an unconfirmed seventh arrest.

In the meantime, as the cops are taking it easy and don’t seem to want to go away in spite of the arrests made, we are calling for the squatters still on the roof to join the gathering on Corso Brescia, corner with via Alessandria. [Read More]

Barcelona: How solidarity and mutual aid saved Barcelona’s Can Vies Squat for eviction and destruction

bcn27m_9The Can Vies social centre in Barcelona made headlines around the world when its eviction led to five consecutive nights of rioting in late May 2014. But the social center has a longer history than this.

Can Vies, originally built in 1879 to stock construction materials for the city’s subway, became the headquarters of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT transport union during the 1930s Spanish Revolution. Following Franco’s victory in 1939, the building became the center for a fascist, hierarchal labor union.

In 1997, the building was abandoned by its owners, Barcelona’s transport authority (TMB), and was subsequently squatted by the neighborhood’s youth. Since then, the Centro Social Autogestionado Can Vies has become a well-used and well-loved community space providing a variety of services to the people of Sants, a neighborhood with a strong tradition of cooperatives. [Read More]