Last night, as 2.500 – 4.000 people took the streets for a “Reclaim the Streets” parade in solidarity with the biggest squat of the city, BINZ, which exists since 2006 and shall be evicted in April! Colourful dressed and with several sound systems and even a car with a live punk band on it, the big crowd moved out of the Binz at 23:00, where only a hand full of police was waiting and totally surprised. Until 23:45 the parade was loud and joyful, pyrotechnics was fired and not a single house on the route towards downtown wasn’t sprayed with dozens of tags, stencils and graffitis. At 23:45, as the crowd reached Wiedikon Train Station, police started firing rubber bullets and tear gas, and with support of their water cannon vehicle, they tried to disperse the RTS.
Pittsburgh (USA): Solidarity Actions in Solidarity with St. Louis
Apparently the evictions in St. Louis touched a nerve in Pittsburgh as several actions were reported to pghanarchy.tumblr.com:
NEW SQUAT OPENED
Hearing of the eviction notices in St. Louis, some anarchists decided to act in solidarity by opening a new squat in Pittsburgh. Somewhere in the hills we entered the house we have been casing out, tidied up a bit, and put new locks on the door. At least a few comrades plan on moving in soon.
Amsterdam: Squatters Linux User Group opening up their hacklab project LAG in a new stable place
From : http://slug.squat.net
Ladies and gents,
After 6 months of renovation work we are proud to invite you all for the opening. The work is not over yet and a lot is only starting. Come by to hear what are our plans with the place, have a drink, re-unite, listen to some music and in general have fun. We start from 17:00.
London (UK): S.O.L. lost in Court….PEOPLE’S KITCHEN (&…) AS USUAL !!!
Yet again, the law has served the interests of corporate business: The High Court issued an order of possession for Eileen House. It might result in bailiffs turning up anytime from today afternoon: we’ll have a legal update then.
But we insist: at a time when welfare and benefits are cut by the government, thousands of properties stand empty, and community and public spaces are sold off for private profit, squatting is more than legitimate!
UK: Homeless Man Prevented From Squatting Dies
We are gutted to bring the extremely sad news that media reports suggest that homeless man Daniel Gauntlett is the first known person to die because of the new squatting law brought in last September which criminalised squatting in residential properties.
There may be more people who have been affected in this way but he is the only person we know of for sure. He passed away last Saturday. The news comes exactly 6 months after the introduction of the new law.
Fresno (USA) : Fresno has no Heart – Evicted and burned down on Valentine’s Day
An eviction of a significant number of homeless people at a downtown encampment in Fresno was expected to take place on February 14th. According to residents of the homeless encampment, located near Monterey and E street, they were told by the owner of the property they are living on that they had until that day to “move on.” The owner of the lot was accompanied by several officers from the Fresno Police Department and a truck & crew from the Fire Department. One homeless man said that the owner of the property threatened to bulldoze the vacant lot and destroy everything. The landlord said to “get the fuck out of here.”
Edinburgh: Another victory for Edinburgh private tenants as criminal landlord banned
Edinburgh City Council recently ruled that millionaire businessman Mark Fortune be removed from the city’s licensing register as unfit to operate as a landlord. It is the first time that the council has refused a landlord application. It is now illegal for this individual to let out properties and charge rents. The story is covered in full here: http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/latest-news/landlord-banned-for-threatening-to-shoot-tenants-1-2778349
Calais: Squat eviction resisted
A new squat near the post office resisted attempts to evict occupants several times today (Feb. 20th 2013 – s!n). The squat is owned by the city, in the morning a city worker attempted enter the building, but was unable to unlock the door. Later in the day a second attempt was made by a locksmith, accompanied by a Police Nationale, but again they were not able to get in.
Vienna: Pizzeria Anarchia in danger of eviction
The following text is about our squat in the 2nd district of Vienna called „Pizzeria Anarchia“ which is now in danger of eviction. The owners of the house are Nery Alaev and Avner Motaev, who are hiding behind their „Castella GmBH“. They offered us to move into the house for six months in November 2011 with the hidden agenda that we will kick out the old tenants. The bottom line is, that we stayed, and are now fighting together with the old tenants (which are now in fact comrades of us) against the landlords.
UK: Criminalising squatting, empty homes and property guardianship
‘Property guardianship’ or ‘anti-squatting’ is a phenomenon which started in the Netherlands in the 1990s and has now spread to five other European countries, including the UK. Property guardians are essentially unofficial security guards, who pay to inhabit a building as their home, under the tenure of ‘license’.
Crucially, this is not a tenancy, and has none of the corresponding automatic rights of security of tenure. ‘Guardians’ usually pay £15-100 a week to do this, depending on the company involved, and the area they are in – the cost is always below market rent.
Athens: Attempted reoccupation of Skaramaga squat ended up with mass detentions in the area of Exarchia and one comrade faced with misdemeanor charges
A two-day event in solidarity with all squats, self-organized projects and self-managed structures of counter-information (targeted by repression ever since the first police raid on Villa Amalias squat on the 20th of December 2012) was called for the 15th and the 16th of February 2013 in the Athens Polytechnic School, in Exarchia.
A house is to be taken, a rent not to be paid! On the ongoing rise of the (new) squatter movement in Torino, Italy
Torino: evictions/sfratti defeated last January
In December 2012, a zine was released on the subject of the struggle against the sfratti in Torino.
Lutte contre les sfratti à Turin (English translation in the works).
At large, this booklet was a compilation of texts, consisting as much subjective stories (allowing to understand the practices put at play) than more theorical reflexions on the perspectives of this ongoing struggle.
Radar Online Agenda
