Sunday afternoon there was a small action at a former squat in Amsterdam Noord. The squatters are angry, because in the evicted building is now an anti squat workspace. The building, that had been squatted already for 3 times, got evicted last summer. It turns out it got evicted for anti-squat. Below a statement of the squatters:
Today we are here to put the situation surrounding the building in the middle of your neighborhood under attention. The old pizzeria on Statenjachtstraat 598. Probably the recent history of this building is still known to you, but to summarize:
After years of vacancy, last year the building got bought by to rich real estate dealers, Axel Veldboom and Frans Blom. Last summer, the place got resquatted (it was already squatted 2 times before). It was clear for the squatters that there were no short term plans for the building. But the owners did have a plan. A pretty ambitious and unrealistic plan, to build an enormous building in the middle of the neigbourhood.
The state decided to start a procedure to evict the squatters, squatting is forbidden, and the owner claims to have a plan. The squatters decided to fight the state in court, to prevent the eviction. In a court case like this the importance of interests is being weighed against each other by a judge, or at least it should be. On one side the needs of the state for having the place evicted, and on the other side the needs of the squatters, to be able to have a place to live.
The story of the owner was simple, the asbestos had to be taken out of the building, in order to be able to demolish it, ready the ground for construction, and start the new building plans. By the time they would have destroyed everything, they figured they would have all the permits ready.
The state without doubt took over these statements, and the judge agreed. The squatters got evicted.
By now, the asbestos has been taken out, and the building has been empty again for couple of months.
Then all of a sudden, last week, an advertisement shows up on facebook that there is a “creative, slightly destroyed, but not lost work space” is available in the Banne.
The house is being rented out as an anti-squat atelier. As the squatters predicted, the plans are far from finished. 7 People lost their house. Evicted by the state to protect the rich housing speculators, that want to put a yuppie flat here. And now there will be some kind of hip atelier, with the only goal being the prevention of the building being squatted again.
Anti-squat might sound nice, you can get a cheap nice place to do something creative, or even live. But you shouldn’t forget the point of anti-squat. The point is preventing that the building gets squatted. It’s a tool that is used by real estate owners to speculate and make money. You lose all you rights. Sadly there is not much we can do anymore with this building, but we didn’t wanted to go quietly.
The action went pretty smooth, some banners were put on the fences surrounding the building, some music was played, flyers were handed out to the neighbors. Some interested people stayed for a bit to discuss the situation. Incidentally, the anti-squatters were there at the same moment, settling in their new work space. They were not sure what to think about the situation, from one side they thought it was sad the squatters got evicted, from the other side they were happy with the new place they are renting for 200 euro a month, to start their new furniture workshop. Police came, after the usual nitpicking they gave their permission for the “demonstration”.
Some squats in the Netherlands: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/NL/squated/squat
Groups (social center, collective, squat) in the Netherlands: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/NL
Events in the Netherlands: https://radar.squat.net/en/events/country/NL
antikraak = antisquat
source: Indymedia https://www.indymedia.nl/node/48138
