On the 8th of October 2021 we gave a press conference in front of Köpi. Read our statement:
Just a week before the eviction of the Køpi wagenplatz we received the report from the official investigator for signature verificationthat the signature presented at the trial in May 2021 by the supposed owner Yervand Chuckhajyan of the postbox company Startezia GmbH differs from previous signatures and is therefore false.
The falsification, and the fact no one ever saw Mr Chuckhajyan, reinforces our suspicion that the supposed owner of this postbox company does in fact not represent the company and is actually another fraud of the real owner of this postbox company, Siegried Nelhs of SANUS AG.
At the trial also the judge Claudia Wolter noticed the different signatures, criticized the supposed owner for not being present at the trial and questioned his lawyers about their relationship with their client. Nevertheless the judge decided that if Startezia GmbH pays a security deposit of 200.000€ the eviction can go ahead even before our appeal hearing. Again we see that justice is not blind, that the court favours suspicious anonymous postbox companies with enough money over the lives, homes and futures of dozens of people.
The so-called owner paid the security deposit on the 20th of June, not long after the trial. We do not see it as a coincidence that he nevertheless waited to request the eviction during the interim governance, after the elections and before the new government takes place. Politicians now face less political consequences and can blame others for this illegal and expensive eviction.
The falsification of signatures convinces us that we have a strong chance in winning the appeal trial against the eviction order. We have however little faith that with less than a week to go before the eviction on the 15th of October the responsible court or senator would do the right thing after receiving this information, and will order to halt the eviction. Proof of this is the signs in the neighbourhood indicating the installation of the red zone which will start on the 14th of October.
So even if we win the appeal, everything which matters for us will be lost already. Our community will have been destroyed and divided, dozens of people will have lost their homes and taxpayers will have payed millions for an illegal eviction and violent repression. As the recent verdict about Hambacher Forest shows us, this would not be the first time an eviction is declared illegal only after the homes, lives and community of the residents were destroyed.
Andreas Geisel is the Berlin interior affairs senator responsible for ordering thousands of police to evict us on the 15th of October. We want to remind him that in 2016 his predecessor Frank Henkel lost legitimacy after his police force was ordered by the court to pull out of an eviction attempt of Rigaer 94 because of legal irregularities. Consequently Henkel faced a legal suit for “illegal police deployment”, and a public poll demonstrated only 34% of Berliners favoured tough police actions.1
The news about the fraud used to accomplish our eviction enrages and unites us even more. We will resist this illegal eviction, in the court, in our wagenplatz and in the streets! After months of mobilisations, uur last demonstration on the 2nd of October was our first reaction to the eviction date. Around 1500 people joined us on the streets and many Berliners showed their solidarity with us along the route.
From now on we call for action weeks and decentralised actions. We call for solidarity in Berlin and the whole world. The eviction of Køpi wagenplatz concerns us all. It is not an isolated event. In the last years too many people have lost their homes because of rising rents and gentrification gone mad. Beside people being pushed out of their houses and neighborhoods this unlimited gentrification also attacks our free autonomous spaces and our radical movement in Berlin and beyond.
In the last years countless radical leftist projects have been evicted. Only a few days ago Rigaer 94 was raided, again. Although they try to exhaust us before the Køpiplatz eviction we will not accept these attacks. We will not forget that exactly one year ago Liebig 34 was evicted. Tomorrow, on Saturday the 9th of October, we therefore call for another demonstration, together with Liebig 34, to show our continued anger about these attacks, evictions and criminalisation of our radical communities.
We will continue to prepare for the planned eviction on the 15th of October when the Køpi wagenplatz will be evicted by bailiff Kölling and hundreds of specialized police units. Thousands more will be deployed that day to repress our resistance and our supporters. A massive waste of taxpayers money for the violent repression of dozens of people that will lose their home and community, and of many more people that will lose another place to meet and create alternatives. A waste of taxpayers money for yet another project of luxury apartments in a city destroyed by gentrification and speculation.
The heavy police presence will disrupt our whole neighbourhood. A red zone will be installed around the Køpi from the 14th of October onwards that will militarise our streets, installing a de facto state of emergency blocking the free movement of people. Only residents able to proof they are registered in this area will be able to enter, shops will be closed and police will heavy handedly enforce their powers.
The red zone is meant to isolate us from our supporters and allow for police violence left unscrutinised. We call upon our supporters to not let them isolate us. We will do anything to protect our homes and autonomous spaces. We are many, we are united and we are angry.
If the court and politicians go through with this illegal eviction, and if the wagenplatz is evicted on the 15th of October there will be a massive demonstration called for by Interkiezionale. We will be there with all other projects that face or faced evictions and criminalisations, with our wide international supportive community and with countless Berliners sick of the gentrification destroying their city.
Køpi, Køpiplatz
Köpenicker Straße 133 – 138, 10179 Berlin
https://squ.at/r/d
https://koepi137.net/
https://kopibleibt.noblogs.org/
Wagenplatz in Berlin: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/city/berlin/topic/wagenplatz
Groups in Berlin https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/city/berlin
Events in Berlin https://radar.squat.net/en/events/city/Berlin
Stressfaktor https://stressfaktor.squat.net/
Groups in Germany https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/DE
Events in Germany https://radar.squat.net/en/events/country/DE
https://koepi137.net/press-illegal-eviction.html
https://kopibleibt.noblogs.org/post/2021/10/08/press-conference-8-oct-illegal-eviction-kopi-wagenplatz-supposed-owner-falsified-signature/
