Prague: Klinika under threat of eviction

On Tuesday 5th September 2017 the Prague municipal court by its decision opened the way for the eviction of Klinika. Our appeal was rejected as the court upheld the view of the state (owner of the house) that they were within their rights not to extend the contract with us. The collective is convinced that the autonomous social centre can remain functioning regardless of the decision. It is senseless to destroy a functional social centre visited by thousands of people for an uncertain and highly uneconomical reconstruction of the building into offices, whose approval alone will take a few years due to the need to change the zoning regulations which do not allow offices at the site.

Klinika started in November 2014 by occupying a former lung clinic, which had stood empty since 2009. It was evicted by the police after only 10 days but after months of negotiations the state agreed to a contract with the social centre for a year with the expectation that the contract would be extended. [Read More]

Greece: Solidarity with the imprisoned comrades in Italy from 111 Squat in Thessaloniki

On August 3rd 2017, cops raided several houses and occupied spaces in Florence (eviction of Riottosa squat), Rome and Lecce, aiming at the arrest of 8 comrades from Florence. This specific operation concerns 2 attacks. The first concerns the placing of an explosive device at a fascist bookstore that has connections with Casapound, on new years day last year, resulting in the injury of the bomb disposal cop (who lost an arm and eye). The second attack was with molotov cocktails against police facilities on April 4th 2016. The 2 attacks took place in Florence. Cops claim that they identified people through phone taps, surveillance, and identification of dna samples.

The charges are: “attempted homicide” for the 5 comrades from the first case, and “manufacturing, possession, and transportation of an explosive or incendiary device to a public place” for all comrades, all of this in the frames of “consisting a criminal organization”. A few days later 6 comrades were released while the charges remained, and 2 comrades were imprisoned for the attack on the fascist bookstore. One of the 2 comrades has had all communication forbidden. [Read More]

Turin: Updates on the 3rd May arrests

A court of review hearing, held to decide over Kam, Fran, Antonio, Beppe and Lorenzo ended a few hours ago. The charges that led the five comrades behind bars and banned Monica and Michela from the city were discussed, in order to decide if the measures imposed before the trial were to be modified.

Even if the hearing was held behind closed doors we learned that a large assortment of cops was in the courtroom: plain clothes officers from Porta Palazzo police station, Digos officers, screws, [prosecutors] Padalino’s and Rinaudo’s bodyguards and a bunch of carabinieri. They were all there to highlight the power that they hold in a courtroom. Power transferred through court papers and the reconstruction of that night’s events, like the events of many other nights, days and moments spent in a corner of some police station or in the streets during a police check. Anything that happens before and after, the cause and the effect, are mixed up to create a tale that is more effective on paper, the assessment of the charges and the weight of the sentence.

Nothing to be surprised about; the violence of the cops’ control in the streets is backed up by the violence of the sterile language of court papers, imprisonment and the limitation of freedom. We won’t dwell on the chronological order of that night’s events. It’s more interesting to look at what those events have provoked more generally. [Read More]

Amsterdam: Spinhuis to be evicted. We are militant and determined to resist

On the 28th of August, almost two years after the abandoned dungeon under the bridge was squatted, the Spinhuis will be evicted. The autonomous social centre will be swept away. What will come in its place will be a closed, ostensibly ‘neigbourhood initiative’ for canal homeowners, but which is widely known to be a vessel for the ambitions of Peter Hagendoorn (son of the well-known real estate speculant).
Whoever thought that we would just let this happen is wrong. Long have we fought for a social and independent Spinhuis to remain, using all the tools we had: from crowbars on doors, to negotiations with the municipality, and all the rhetorical skills and political wrangling that come with dealing with bureaucrats. However the fate of the squat had already been decided upon. Nevertheless, we remain ready to fight. From under the bridge we will take to the streets to resist the evictions of the Spinhuis and ADM, and the overwhelming commercialisation and gentrification of our city. Here follows a reflection on the past two years and the battle that is yet to come. [Read More]

Saint-Denis (France): Social centre l’Attiéké evicted

Today, at 6:30 am on August 17, 2017, l’Attiéké, the self-organized and inhabited social centre in Saint-Denis [in Paris northern suburbs], was evicted with the help of cops of all kinds, bailiffs, president and manager of the Fédération Française de Triathlon (owner of the building). The inhabitants were able to leave without arrest and recover some stuff. The rest of the belongings left for storage in another city in the Paris region and will likely be recovered in the days to come. [Read More]

Italy: Updated addresses of the comrades arrested on 3rd August

We are updating the addresses of the comrades remanded in custody following a police operation carried out on 3rd August in Florence, Rome and Lecce. [Previously on S!N]
[Read More]

Berlin: Gathering in Front of Besieged Teppich Fabrik

On Friday, August 11, there will be a gathering in front of the Teppichfabrik squat in Berlin’s Friedrichshain district. The gathering will start at 06:00pm (18:00). The squat is permantly sieged by riot cops and private securities.

Where there still was a beautiful view yesterday, there is a double line of fences (image). All bushes are gone and on top of that a half riot squat with dogs and additional private securities pootle around in our front garden. Not a nice view.
[Read More]

squat.net downtime today

The squat.net sites will be down for a few hours today as a result of hardware maintenance.

squat.net updating

In the last days we are updating the squat.net infrastructure, which may lead to occasional downtimes on websites and mail services. Sorry for that and feel free to contact us if any problems persist. Squat the world!

Italy: To the international anarchist movement

Florence, April 21, 2016 2017: someone attacked the carabinieri barracks in Rovezzano, the Florentine suburbs, with a molotov.
Florence, January 1, 2017 an explosive device placed outside the bookshop “Il Bargello” near Casa Pound explodes in the hands of a policeman who is severely injured.
Following these two anonymous attacks, on the morning of August 3, 2017, eight comrades are imprisoned. The anarchists: Marina Porcu, Micol Marino, Pierloreto Fallanca (Pasca), Giovanni Ghezzi, Roberto Cropo, Salvatore Vespertino, Sandro Carovac, Nicola Almerigogna.
These comrades have been notified of accusations of attempted murder because of the wounding of the bomb disposal engineer Mario Vece, fabrication, detention and transportation of explosive devices, aggravated damage for the throwing of incendiary bottles against the Carabinieri barracks.

The names of the main inquisitors to have coordinated the investigations are:
Spina Eugenio (senior executive of the State police, head of counter-terrorism).
Pifferi Lucio (head of the D.I.G.O.S. in Florence).
Creazzo Giuseppe (chief prosecutor of Florence).

As anarchists we are not interested in knowing who did these actions, valid, concrete, alive. The Italian State after the continuation of Op. Scripta Manent, again strikes refractory comrades, who believe that direct, non-mediated and destructive action is a fundamental means of anarchist revolutionary struggle. [Read More]

Lecce: Police operation against La Caura

On Thursday 3rd August at 6:30am the Digos of Lecce and an antiterrorism special squad (UOPI) wearing balaclavas and armed with machineguns stormed La Caura (Roca-Lecce). The police forced those present to lie face down on the floor, then took a comrade, Paska, away who is now being held in the Lecce prison.
The episode occurred at the same time as that at La Riottosa in Florence, where another 7 comrades were arrested, while one was arrested in Rome. The police operation refers to an explosive attack on ”Il Bargello” [neo-nazi] bookshop, a Casapound place, in Florence (1st January 2017), when an incompetent bomb disposal expert was injured, and to an incendiary bottle against the carabinieri barracks in Rovezzano, Florence (21st April 2017).
The police chief of Lecce immediately took the chance to threaten the new squat (La Caura), opened just ten days ago, with eviction, as happened with La Riottosa.
At around 2pm about thirty people went outside the prison in Lecce in solidarity for a quick greeting to the prisoners. And another gathering is to take place today 4th August at 6pm.

Solidarity with Micol, Marina, Sandro, Nicola, Roberto, Paska, Giovanni, Vespertino. [Read More]

South Africa: The ‘Boiketlong Four’ and the Criminalisation of Poverty and Protest

In February 2015, four community activists from Boiketlong in the Vaal, south of Johannesburg, were sentenced to 16 years in prison each following a community protest. This is a very severe sentence and the conviction was based on shaky evidence. The ‘Boiketlong Four’ were arrested for allegedly attacking the local ANC ward councillor and setting fire to her shack and two cars during a community protest. They were convicted of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, arson and malicious injury to property. This is an example of a terrible injustice perpetrated against black working class activists and could have dangerous repercussions for future struggles of the black working class and poor in South Africa if it is not fought. People need to be aware of the facts and take action to demand justice and to fight the criminalisation of poverty and protest.
[Read More]