Dijon: Invitation to come and discover the Quartier Libre des Lentillères

With this second lockdown, we sense that we will have to learn to live with the global pandemic a little longer. For some time now, we had also understood that we would have to deal with the ecological crisis. Rather than gently waiting for the next state of emergency, what we are trying to build here at the Quartier Libre des Lentillères is a possible way to continue to live in spite of these crises. By imagining and creating a world that makes us envious, built of non-market relationships, based on solidarity and a sense of the common, connected to the environment in which we find ourselves, organized in self-management.

From a small, very localized struggle against an urbanisation project such as there are so many of them, a neighborhood rich in the diversity of its activities (from market gardening to self-construction, from small gardens to neighborhood festivals) was built over 10 years, without planing, trying this and that, and also rich of people who come along, garden and live in it. And rich in possible imaginations. Together we are constantly reinventing ourselves collectively. [Read More]

Berlin: Reflection text for the “United We Fight” Discussion and Actions days

We publish this text from the Interkiezionale-Bündnis as an evaluation of the international discussion & action days that took place from Friday the 30th of October to Sunday the 1st of November in Berlin. We chose to write a text for both the demo and the discussions, as we consider it important to be transparent on the thought processes, ideas and motives of the Bündnis. We believe that transparency is an inherent element of our politics, as the sharing of information breaks down unwanted hierarchies of “insiders” and “outsiders”, and gives space for discussion, (self-)critique and (self-)reflection to take place in the broader scene.

THE GOALS OF THE CALL

Intekiezionale is a coordination of threatened projects, groups and individuals in solidarity, that attempts to fight back against the eviction of our spaces. One of the main means of achieving this for us is through providing the space for the movement to experience collective moments. As we consider the stuggle of the projekts, a struggle of the whole movement in Berlin, we consider it important to organize events open for people to take part in and fight together with the projekts. This can be through mass demonstrations, in which the scene can express itself collectively in the streets before or after evictions, but also through general assemblies or info-events, which give the space for an exchange of views and sharing of experiences. [Read More]

Wassenaar: Bats at Ivicke

Potential Roost Destroyed And Building In Danger After Municipality Of Wassenaar Ignores Directive To Stop All Works.
The municipality of Wassenaar removed Ivicke’s gutter despite an Omgevingsdienst Zuid-Holland directive to stop all works on the building immediately due to the suspected presence of bats. The removal of the gutter also did not accord with the municipality’s own work plan, meaning Ivicke is now at serious risk of water damage.

On Tuesday 24 November, Omgevingsdienst (OD) Zuid-Holland ordered the municipality of Wassenaar to stop the works on Ivicke because of the strong possibility of bats roosting in and around the building. The municipality hasn’t conducted any assessment on this, or sought permits for the work in general, even though this is precisely why the owner, Ronnie van de Putte, was prevented from carrying out works on the building several months ago. The workers left the site early on Tuesday 24 and weren’t here on Wednesday 25, pending the results of the OD’s investigation.

(At this stage of the municipality’s works (4 weeks in), there’s scaffolding all around the building, more or less at the height of the now-removed gutter, but it’s not yet fully erect. Before the works stopped, the scaffolding was due to be completed by November 30, according to the plan submitted to us by the architect of the project.) [Read More]

Villeurbanne: the Collectif Solidarités Cusset opens a squat in the rue de l’Egalité

We, Collectif Solidarités Cusset, have occupied a vacant building at 4-6 rue de l’Egalité in Villeurbanne since Wednesday 18 November. We are a neighborhood collective bringing together residents of Cusset. Since the first lockdown, we have decided to organize ourselves collectively in the face of the health and social situation in order to propose a concrete and popular solidarity with the most precarious: students, unemployed, undocumented workers, workers, large families, retired people…
For 4 months, we tried to contribute to the food and health emergency by distributing food and hygiene products in the form of a free market, with the support of several associations in town. Over these 4 months, twice a week, we held these distributions, and it is more than 80 families and isolated people that we helped.

Strengthened by this experience and the multiple links that we have built, we re-mobilized at the beginning of this second lockdown, notably through the organization of marauds. These allowed us to see that our means were not equal to the great precariousness in which too many people found themselves, especially those who had no housing. [Read More]

Rome: Nuovo Cinema Palazzo evicted

Nuovo Cinema Palazzo was evicted today (Wednesday) in San Lorenzo, Rome. It had been squatted for a decade and was a well-loved community resource. The social centre called for action on the streets and there was a large demo in the evening (three arrests reported). Mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi (Five Star) said the eviction was an outrage and she herself liked to go there, calling for an immediate meeting to resolve the issue and get the squat re-opened. Also, in better news, the headquarters of neo-Nazis Forza Nuova was also evicted and Raggi took care to say there was nothing at all similar between the two places.

Nuovo Cinema Palazzo released this statement (machine translated) in answer to Raggi’s support:
[Read More]

Paris: occupation of the Place de la République, repression and manhunt

The night of the tents: the worst happened. Horror and outrage, the statue of the Republic was petrifiedExtracts from the joint press release

The worst is not the images, it is the night that has once again swallowed the migrants outside. The worst is that the 400 migrants present, at 7pm, Place de la République, will sleep outside again tonight, far away in Clichy, far away in Saint-Denis, hidden under the bridges of the canals or elsewhere, invisible. The worst thing is that again, we will not see them fall asleep wounded in the cold.

No, the appalling thing did not happen when the police took the migrants out, at 8 pm, of the tents that the association Utopia 56 had set up on the Place de la République (20,000 euros of budget according to the association). The police began to throw away several hundred tents purchased this weekend to put them in a safe place. The abandoned bodies of the migrants, taken out by force, the light fabrics flying through the air from hand to hand in police hands, the soon-to-be-torn canvases, the tired faces of all of them… We were only there at the beginning. [Read More]

Pully: imminent eviction from the Spyre

Destroying life to create emptiness: imminent eviction from the Spyre, an ecological and committed squat in Pully, Switzerland. Here is a press release from the Collectif Bambou, living in a squat ecologist and engaged threatened with eviction in the commune of Pully. We would like to highlight the social and ecological issues raised by this situation.

Have you already heard about the Spyre? On an immense green field in Pully, a large villa and its annex is home to a whole world: colorful, lively, communal. For nearly three months now, the Bamboo Collective has been living and bringing these places to life with ecological and solidarity-based ways of life. The occupied buildings were empty, left abandoned since the plot was bought by Dune Capital SA, property developers wishing to raze them to the ground to build twelve new luxury buildings. This huge project had aroused about twenty opposition from the neighbourhood, and the building permit has not yet been issued. “Welcome to our world, the one we build in the dustbins of theirs. We used to live a bit hidden, busy living, creating and fighting, but today here we are, sharing with you what they are about to demolish: our desires, our creations, our houses, our living hope of another world” expresses a resident. [Read More]

Saint-Denis: new evacuation of camp, police violence against migrants

New evacuation of a migrant camp in Saint-Denis. Another communication operation on the shoulders of migrants!

This morning, Tuesday November 17 at dawn, hundreds of migrants were evacuated from the camp near the Stade de France. Prefect Lallement was present on the spot and willingly answered the microphones of the media, who had obviously been warned in advance of the evacuation.
Between 65 and 70 such evacuations have taken place in recent years in the Île-de-France region. The State’s solution is to evict people without any real care. It is a policy of “burying one’s head in the sand”. When it becomes too visible they evacuate. A few days or weeks later a new camp is formed until… the next evacuation and so on. [Read More]

Poznan: Anarchists successfully stop allotment gardens eviction

Anarchists from Rozbrat squat in Poznań, together with other groups, have successfully stopped the eviction of neighbouring allotment gardens “ROD Bogdanka”.

The allotments are a part of the city’s green belt and have been used by the community since 1953. For decades, the land belonged to the state treasury. In the early 90s, it was acquired by a somewhat shadowy developers’ company Darex. Darex took out a loan to purchase the land, but then never paid it back while still maintaining their ownership rights. As of today, the company is still listed as an official owner in the land registry records for both the allotments and Rozbrat.

Over the years, the municipality of Poznań attempted to reclaim the land, but so far without too much luck. In the meantime, the land has become a prime estate for developers and dramatically increased its monetary value. The developers, of course, plan to turn it into some form of a posh “regeneration” project and have been harassing both the allotment holders and the squatters from Rozbrat to get them to move on. In the past year, there were reports of arson on the allotments, and Darex has also been threatening the plot holders with absolutely overwhelming financial penalties should they chose to hold on to their gardens. By these methods, they have successfully intimidated many people to leave their plots; however, a few are still remaining. [Read More]

Santurtzi: Demonstration, create, support and defend squatting

With this short text, we would like to invite you to the demonstration that will take place on November 28th at 12:30 from the Kultur Etxea de Mamariga in Santurtzi.

Because of the media campaign against squatting that is being carried out from the disinformation media, the anti-occupation neighborhood mobilizations with racist and classist tendencies that force evictions and the the aggressive actions that threaten us and come from the city council. From Mamarigako Kultur Etxea, Mamarigako Gaztetxea, La Kelo Gaztexea and people in solidarity; we have seen that it is essential to organize ourselves to give a forceful response to this situation that affects all the squatting movement.

We want to open this initiative that arises from the squatted spaces of Santurtzi to the rest of the collectives and networks. We would like to make you participate by proposing to use this call to make visible in your environment the different local problems and that November 28 under the flag of the squatting be a meeting point to claim our struggle and the defense of our spaces. [Read More]

Bristol: Picton Lane site resists eviction

Last week Freedom reported that the Picton Lane site in Bristol was facing eviction after having been given a notice to leave. The notice was not a court order and was delivered only a day into the lockdown 2.0. Picton Lane site is a home to a number travellers & friends.

The current government lockdown guidelines state that evictions mustn’t happen unless it is a case of “emergency”. There is no emergency on Picton Lane: the owner of the site has been applying, unsuccessfully, for a planning permission since 2017, and the decision to evict people from here during the covid pandemic is more than inexplicable.

Below, we publish a short report from Picton Lane residents, who resisted the illegal eviction attempt with the support from others.

Awake most of the night, we were pleasantly surprised to see supporters begin arriving as early as 5am. However, the bailiffs were not so keen. Even police reacted quicker, with a few officers coming down at around 7.10am. [Read More]

Dijon: Engrenage Gardens under threat. Vegetables and trees are rooted, they will not leave.

The decision of the Dijon court has confirmed the eviction of the land occupied by the Engrenage Gardens as of November 20. The house is not affected by this decision. Despite the headlines in the local press suggesting that the case is closed, the vegetables are growing, the gardeners are gardening and the walkers are wandering around!

After the October hearing, the court handed down its verdict on November 4. According to the local press (le Bien Public). “The court noted the occupation without right or title of the land located between 45 and 65 avenue de Langres and ordered their eviction within fifteen days if necessary with the help of the police force. The court, however, declared itself incompetent with respect to the occupation of the small house. » [Read More]