Heraklion: neither 21 nor 100, squat forever in Evagelismos

Text of the people arrested during the evacuation of Evagelismos Squat in Heraklion, after 21 years of history

In the early hours of Saturday 30.09.2023, around 5:30 in the morning, cops of various forces overrun the neighborhood of Theotokopoulou. People living in the Evagelismos squat wake up to the sound of broken glasses and metal shaking from the blows. After the very short time during which the police forces managed to enter the building, they find half of the people inside it, and half on the terrace above it. The people inside the building are immobilized in rooms by the intervening forces (OPKE, EKAM), while EKAM proceed to intervene on the terrace. At this point there is tension between the people on the roof and the cops trying to approach them, which ends when the cops manage to reach us, to avoid violence towards us. They lay us on our faces and tie us up, some with handcuffs and others more roughly. [Read More]

Heraklion: the whole city knows it. Evagelismos does not surrender

On Saturday morning, numerous police forces stormed inside Evagelismos Squat. 10 comrades were arrested, one of whom -while being handcuffed- was led to fall from the roof of the building, and is currently still in the hospital. The sealing of the building with iron plates started immediately. The comrades were transferred to the General Police Directorate of Heraklion, where they were charged, while the injured comrade was being held separately and not receiving the necessary medical care. Outside the building dynamic reflex reactions took place, resulting in the arrest of one more comrade. Reactions that continue in the following days…

The first public information about a possible evacuation operation had been released on September 20, with statements by the General Secretary of Higher Education and former rector of the University of Crete Od. Zoras, regarding the evacuation and “utilization” of the building. Thus, on Thursday September 28, we did an intervention in the University’s online Senate, where a text was read. The current rector G. Kontakis -who was in Rethymno at that time- had an sarcastic tone and avoided making any comments. [Read More]

Amsterdam: news from Vossiusstraat 16

Why there are no public events anymore, comment on Volozh’s statement against the war

Soon Vossiusstraat 16 will have existed for one year!
During the last few months, many changes happened. We won the court case and its appeal and this stability allowed us to make this house our home. While the doors of Vossiusstraat 16 were initially open, there have not been any public events in the past few months. This statement is here to explain why that is.
We will also comment on a statement issued by the owner of Vossiusstraat 16, Russian oligarch Arkady Volozh, where he claims he is against the war.

Why we don’t organize public events anymore

When the Vossisstraat 16 squat opened, we decided that it would be both a place to house ourselves and new people and a social space where anyone who wants can come and organise. Many discussions, benefit evenings, meetings, workshops, and more initiatives took place at Vossiusstraat over the span of several months. We really appreciate the fact that so many people were able to use the building and that Vossiusstraat 16 could be a place for political organising and for people to meet.
However, for the past few months, there have not been any public events organised at Vossiusstraat 16. This is a decision we took in response to the verdict of the appeals court. [Read More]

Amsterdam: Time Travelers Hotel, new squat on Rokin 108

Time travelers arrived a couple months in Amsterdam to usher in a new era of activism and change. They have been publishing newspapers, running amok, and resurrecting the inherited tradition of the Hi-Ha Happenings originally started by the Provos in the sixties. After the success of the first Happening, during which the structure that eats away at the lives of ordinary folk was denounced and partially dismantled through ritual and magic, a second Hi-Ha Happening took place on the 29th of September.

This Happening was a constructive one, in counterpart to it’s destructive predecessor. This came to a climax when at the end of the Happening a new squat was announced: the Time Travelers Hotel. The following statement was made during the revealing, and is thus made public for all those who experience a like minded sense of time-dysmorphia, unrest, urge for change, and willingness to provoke and be provoked. [Read More]

Amsterdam: Nieuwe Leliestraat 70 squatted

Some time ago we squatted Nieuwe Leliestraat 70. We stayed there silently until 23.09.2023 after which we revealed our new home to the neighborhood. The building is owned by the social housing company Ymere, which has left it to rot unused for more than six years. It was previously squatted in 2020, but was quickly evicted, after which Ymere left it unoccupied again. We believe it is a disgrace to leave such a beautiful big house empty in the midst of a housing crisis, so we moved in.

Our new neighbors told us that the building next door used to also be social housing owned by Ymere until they renovated it and sold it privately. We suspect that they would have liked to do the same with our new home. This is something that happens often; there are 53,000 fewer social houses in Amsterdam now than there were in 2003. Meanwhile the demand for affordable housing grows every year. [Read More]

Amsterdam: 18 years Pretoriusstraat 43 and Joe’s Garage

On September 25, 2005, Pretoriusstraat 43 was squatted by the Amsterdam-Oost squatting group as a protest against long-term vacancy, criminal money laundering practices and real estate speculation.
For 18 years the house has been a place for a living group on the upper floors, and in 2008, after 3 years of residence and the eviction of Pretoriusstraat 28, Joe’s Garage moved to the Pretoriusstraat 43 ground floor.
The Amsterdam-Oost squatting group has now been present in the Pretoriusstraat for more than 20 years. Joe’s Garage is a political / social center, run by a broad volunteer collective. Independent, in solidarity and non-profit. A place where the ‘cold wind from the market’ does not blow, a meeting place for many.
Joe’s is also 18 years old, with more than 1800 (people’s) kitchens (Voku’s), more than 1000 openings of the give-away shop, countless film evenings, music performances, language cafes, the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and of course, every Tuesday evening for 18 years, the housing / squatting assistance hour (KSU Oost) for help & info. [Read More]

Briançon: come to support the new squat

A squat opened in Briançon (France) on Monday, August 7: the Pado, to meet a need for accommodation in the Briançonnais; The institutional and associative structures are currently more than full. We have the idea and the hope to be able to offer a new place of residence for undocumented people, in more livable conditions, because the building is large and made to accommodate many people. For the moment we have neither water nor electricity because they were illegally cut off during a costly action carried out by the council, the national police and the electricity company EDSB, aimed at destroying the electrical infrastructure upstream of the building. They chose to make the building unlivable rather than evict us, forcing us to live in precarious conditions to abandon this place.
We reaffirm the relevance of initiatives outside the institutional or associative framework, as they are too narrow to respond to the scale and complexity of the situation. [Read More]

Montreuil: La Baudrière evicted

This morning, Tuesday, August 22, 2023, at 6am in Montreuil (France), took place the eviction of La Baudrière, anarcha-feminist squat. This place was, since November 2021, a space of habitation, political organization and care, which has seen many people pass by and hosted many struggles. La Baudrière defended itself with confetti and barricades to resist as long as possible, to continue to keep alive the feminist queer autonomy. The people on site held for 5 hours to the assaults of the cops, especially on the roof.

Police resources used were astonishing: more than 100 cops on site, including the Brav-M, the BAC, the BRI, a climbers unit, a private security group, a fire truck, Enedis technicians, 3 drones… The neighborhood was completely cordoned off for half a day. [Read More]

Groningen: No Border Camp 2023 started

Week of actions and workshops against repressive border and migration policies

Groningen (Netherlands), 21 August 2022 – This morning the No Border Camp 2023 has started at the terrain between Paddepoelsterweg 14 and 16 in Groningen. Over the coming week, hundreds of international activists will gather for actions, meetings, workshops, discussion and culture in the context of the struggle for a world without borders and freedom of movement for all.

It is no coincidence that this year’s No Border Camp is taking place in the north of the Netherlands, where only a year ago Ter Apel became the face of the failing migration policy. The border policy not only causes tragedy far from the Netherlands, such as the recent shipping disaster off the Greek coast, the consequences are also visible here. Everyone in the Netherlands remembers the images of the hundreds of people who had to spend the night in front of the gate of the registration centre in Ter Apel. Other degrading situations are taking place in the emergency shelters in the area and the rest of the country. [Read More]

Utrecht: Croeselaan squatted. We do not accept temporary rentals!

On the 13th of august around 13:00, 4 houses have been squatted on the Croeselaan in Utrecht (Netherlands) where the municipality decided on destroying a lot of houses to make space for a fancy park and an office building. To do this they let around 12 to 13 houses stand empty for months now. While GroenLinks was part of the organisers of the last Woonprotest in Utrecht they also had the deciding vote for destroying these houses. During the housingprotest the houses were occupied and about an hour later housepeace was declared. A big thank you to the people who came out and supported the new squats!

Statement from Croeselaan squatters on Saturday 19 august 2023: We do not accept temporary rentals! [Read More]

Montreuil: La Baudrière under eviction threat from august 21st

Why defend La Baudrière

La Baudrière is an anarcha-feminist queer* squat that opened in November 2021 in Montreuil (a city located in Paris’ suburbs). A lot of people meet here, they come for a few hours, a few days or a few weeks. They came there to live, to learn, to party, to organize. La Baudrière is full of their memories.
Now, eviction is looming, and for us, who use this place in so many different ways, it is time for us to defend this space.
We are calling any non-cis het men to colelctively defend La Baudrière, from the 21st of August onwards.

Here are some of the reasons why we want to resist. Down with the landlords and the evictors, down with the gentrifiers ! [Read More]

Ljubljana: solidarity with Zizania and Ano Kato from the ruins of Mačjak

FROM THE CONCRETE THE SEEDS OF OUR SOLIDARITY WILL SPROUT 10-100-1000 NEW SQUATS

The claws of capital and gentrification are already seizing every last space in every city, settlement and piece of nature in the world. Every smallest environment is already polluted by the global system of exploitation. But the market-world keeps turning and big companies are still managing to gain profit through investments and sales, while because of their predation and lust for capital, we, the inhabitants of the world, are the ones facing natural disasters as a result of environmental destruction and global warming. [Read More]