Dijon: a look back at the public meeting to present the agri-cultural park of the Maraîchers ecocity

Press releases from the assembly of the Quartier Libre des Lentillères.
First press release distributed before the public presentation:

The Quartier Libre des Lentillères reaffirms its willingness to dialogue with the city of Dijon!

Since 2010, hundreds of people have been cultivating the land, organising cultural events, offering markets and meals on donations, self-managed on the 9 hectares of the Quartier Libre des Lentillères. We are still united by the desire to collectively continue the project we are carrying out for this district.

A dialogue began 18 months ago at the initiative of the city council, and we have taken an active part in it. We want to consider all possible forms of sustainability for the Quartier Libre des Lentillères, its activities and its uses, including in the form of legalisation. [Read More]

Amsterdam: Squat on Rokin evicted after celebration of one year of Takland

Takland is a year older and we celebrate! With resistance in the form of squatting a new building. After a year full of action, discussion, movies and parties, this new addition to the alley will be the revolutionary art of Amsterdam again. The new squatted building (ground floor Rokin 104) on the corner of Taksteeg/Rokin had been vacant for years and has the same owner (Axel P Nielsen BV) as the already squatted Taksteeg 6.

The police didn’t want to hear anything about it, after promising at 19:00 on Friday that they will not evict, they came later in the evening at 23:30 during our festival with 10 riot cops vans, dog brigade, popo on horses and BraTra to show their teeth. An illegal eviction in Amsterdam, which has not happened since the squatting of the Waldeck Pyrmonkade in January 2022. [Read More]

Wageningen: Community and eco-squat ‘De Achtertuin’ squats a vacant lot

13 June 2024, Wageningen – Since Tuesday 11 June, Veerweg 121 has been inhabited by the community and eco-squat ‘De Achtertuin’ (The Backyard). The Wageningen group, together with dozens of activists, has squatted this new terrain to argue for a sustainable and socially just living model. This action is a direct response to the ongoing housing crisis, environmental crisis and growing social inequality in the Netherlands.

Squatting is legit

The squatted lot has been vacant for at least 17 years and is currently owned by a property developer. In the latest plans, which have not been approved, a construction project of expensive owner-occupied homes was proposed. To this day, there are still no concrete and accepted plans for the site. The activists therefore consider it justified to establish their right of residence on this vacant lot. [Read More]

Amsterdam: One Year Takland Vrijstraat

June 14, 15 & 16, 2024, TAKLAND 1 YEAR FESTIVAL – TAKLAND 4 EVER https://squ.at/r/9e0a

ONE YEAR (and a bit) TAKLAND WAS FOUNDED AND EXPANDED.
On the 27th of April 2023, the puppet-mayor, puppet-king and a member of puppet-parliament came together in the Taksteeg to come up with a plan to make as much money from the city as possible. The plan was to evict every single person who lives in Amsterdam and to rent it out as air-bnb’s, hotels and nutella shops. However, before the puppet-authorities were even able to open air-bnb, resistance was already popping up right behind them. Taksteeg 8 got squatted and occupied for 6 weeks, housing a freeshop, movie screenings and other political events.
Later the Takland people had to move to the adjacent building, bringing the freeshop and the puppet-people with them. It has now been a year since we lived in this house, and we have expended even more by also occupying the time travelers hotel. Together with Villa Mina we want to celebrate the 1 year mark with a 3 day festival.
Details will be published here as soon as confirmed, but expect great acts, bands, movies, dancing, fun and crazy stuff in general! [Read More]

Amsterdam: Achter Oosteinde 16 squatted. Opening of the Shadia Abu Ghazaleh campus

Pro-Palestinian protesters open Shadia Abu Ghazaleh Campus of the People’s Free University. Around 14:45, pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched from the Spui to Achter Oosteinde 14 and opened the Shadia Abu Ghazaleh Campus of the people’s Free university in a squatted building.
Today, on May 25, pro-Palestinian demonstrators began their protest on the Spui at 14:00. This demonstration moved through the streets of Amsterdam to Achter Oosteinde 16, where the protesters revealed that a squatted building is being opened to the public as the first campus of the People’s Free University. The Shadia Abu Ghazaleh Campus will be a space of resistance where people can learn from each other and teach each other. The campus is named after one of the first Palestinian women to participate in armed resistance in 1967: “She knew the importance of knowledge and education in the struggle for liberation. […] We will create this space in her legacy,” the protesters say. [Read More]

Utrecht: Biltstraat 31 squatted and evicted

This year’s demo Rave voor de Rafelranden took place on 11 May. The building on the Biltstraat was squatted for the demo. The same night, the police evicted the squat and arrested 5 people.

On Saturday afternoon it was announced that the building at Biltstraat 31 in Utrecht has been squatted. The old hotel has been vacant since 2020 and is waiting for new permits that have been refused by the municipality. The squatters have chosen to announce the action today, as they drew attention to the frayed edges of the city today by means of a street rave through the center. With this action, the squatters would like to add a cultural space to the city. [Read More]

Dijon: Lentillères Spring Festival, Commons Week

On May 31st, June 1st and 2nd, we will celebrate the 14th anniversary of the beginning of the occupation of the Quartier Libre des Lentillères!

Since 2010, from land clearing to self-construction, 9 hectares have gradually been occupied by gardens, fields, cabins, parks, orchards and collective places open to all.

After having snatched the abandonment of phase 2 of the misnamed “eco-city of market gardeners” (éco-cité des maraîchers) project in 2019, and started a dialogue with the city council for the last 2 years, we find ourselves once again threatened by the city’s appetite for concrete. An “ultimatum”, taken out of the mayor’s pocket on a Sunday morning at dawn, forces us to question the indivisibility of the 9 hectares that make up the neighborhood, to make way for an urbanization project on a strip of 1.14 hectares. This pressure undermines the trust and exchanges that we had tried to establish in recent months. [Read More]

Amsterdam: Building squatted for Housing Day. Gravenstraat 26 resquatted

NO HOUSING NO KING

Today, April 27, we come together to celebrate Housing Day (Woningsdag), not Koningsdag (King’s Day). Instead of celebrating the monarchy, we will celebrate the resistance and bravery of everyday people. Kingsday is a day of hypocrisy, where we wear orange plastic crowns to pretend we are a king, while every other day we are struggling to make ends meet. While the royal family bathes in luxury we are struggling to pay for basic necessities like food, energy and housing. Nationalism and the celebrations of the monarchy we see today, work to create false divisions that do not serve us. It draws artificial borders over land and divides us, it breaks the natural tendency of solidarity between people and instead teaches us we should fear one another. [Read More]

Intersquat Ile-de-France

From April 27 to May 5, the Intersquat Ile-de-France festival returns for a new edition! We invite all those concerned, squatters and their friends, and others interested to an Intersquat festival in Pantin (93500). On the program, canteens, screenings, singing, discussions, workshops and festive moments!

In the context of the Kasbarian Bergé law and faced with the first building evictions, several squatters in Île-de-France called for a crisis assembly to organize against this shitty law. Called “anti-squat” by the media, this repressive law criminalizes squatters and will increase the number of evictions of precarious tenants.

Heraklion: Evagelismos squat threatened with new eviction

Evangelismos Squat is threatened once again, we will not surrender, we will fight back!

During the last few days we received information regarding an upcoming eviction of Evangelismos squat, just shortly after the evictions of the Kastelli Hill squats in Chania, in the form of a total attack against squats in Crete. The possibility of a new operation was something that was also indicated by the deal between University of Crete and National Technical University of Athens for a building survey, costing 744.000€. At this point, we have valid and specific information about this upcoming eviction as well, since counting 22 years of struggle, Evangelismos is part of the local society of Heraklion, with deep roots and networks within it, and we are in a position to know anything. [Read More]

London: “Why we squatted Gordon Ramsay’s pub”

chairs and tables inside squat

Freedom News received this statement from the Camden Art Cafe squatters who have liberated Gordon Ramsay’s York and Albany Hotel restaurant in Camden, London:

We are occupying the York and Albany Hotel in Camden as the collective Camden Art Cafe. We aim to open our doors regularly to anyone and everyone, particularly the people of Camden who have been victims of gentrification and parasitic projects like HS2 [squat!net Stop HS2 archives]. We provide free food, drinks, and a space to display their art without the ridiculous red-tape galleries that require people to jump over. We believe all of us and our art deserves dignity.
[Read More]

London: Lesnes will not be demolished

Residents are currently occupying a housing estate and are refusing to leave – marching on the council tonight

Residents from the Lesnes estate will protest at Bexley Council on Thursday 11 April evening to demand support in their campaign against Peabody’s planned demolition of their homes. It comes after residents and campaigners have occupied an empty house and appeal for supporters to join them to protect an estate made up of a lot of social housing.
Save Lesnes from demolition

Lesnes Estate residents and campaigners are occupying an empty home on the Lesnes Estate and are demanding that Peabody executive director and leader of the Thamesmead regeneration scheme, John Lewis, agrees to meet residents in person and listen to their demands:

That empty homes are opened up immediately.
That the entire estate is refurbished, not demolished. [Read More]