Leipzig: Who sows wind, will reap storm

We look back on a long weekend full of determined action against the increasing evictions, against the gentrification and the unbearable cop siege of our neighbourhoods. After two occupied houses had been evicted within a very short time, the anger about social grievances in Leipzig came to a climax once again.

After the squatted house Luwi71 was evicted on Wednesday, a Day X+1 demonstration was called on Thursday. Several hundred people joined the demonstration and expressed their anger at the eviction of the future social center near Eisenbahnstraße. Cops were attacked, barricades were erected and set on fire. Clashes lasted for several hours, during which even a resquat attempt of the Luwi71 was started. The cops tried again and again to disperse the masses, but instead many smaller demonstrations were formed, which drove the clashes forward. Many spectators joined the masses that were repeatedly scattered and yet found each other again. The anger at the police siege and criminalization of Eisenbahnstrasse, including the no weapons zone, was clearly palpable. In the course of the clashes and after several failed attempts by the cops, they began to shoot at random tear gas into the crowd. The fact that here as well as in the following evening ammunition forbidden according the War Weapon Act was used, which was fired also at journalists, probably surprises nobody knowing the Saxonian police. [Read More]

Lyon: Break-ins and ID checks… the disgusting methods of Grand Lyon Habitat

One morning at 7am, Grand Lyon Habitat broke down doors in a squat to register its inhabitants. Unacceptable practices of intimidation. Since a few months, Collomb is no longer mayor of Lyon. He has been thrown out by the green party allied with the “left”, represented by Grégory Doucet at the city hall and Bruno Bernard at the Metropolis. The latter had said that he would soon assert his positions on the subject of housing, when he was questioned on the night of his election by the “Trêve Générale” (general truce) movement.

On Monday, August 17, at 7 a.m., bailiffs came to break down the front door of the squat Le Maria, waking up the inhabitants by forcing their way into each room of the building, breaking the locks of the absent persons and searching through their belongings to find their identities. When we asked them what right they had to do this, the officials answered that they had a warrant, but they never wanted to show it to us, even later when we asked the bailiff for it by e-mail. The bailiffs were not willing to do anything other than put holes in the locks despite our proposals to give them names, either immediately or later by e-mail. Inhabitants and friends therefore had to react by protesting collectively, which eventually pushed them to leave. [Read More]

Leipzig: Statement on the demonstration “Uniting Struggles – For a Solidary Neighbourhood!”

In the evening of 5 september, we organized the demonstration “Connecting Fights – For a Solidary Neighbourhood” with the starting point Hildebrandpark in Connewitz.

In our speeches we discussed the processes of evictions in Connewitz and Leipzig. We criticized the new building projects, as they are no longer affordable for many people here and living space is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. As a result, many people who have lived here for years have to leave the neighborhood. Social networks, structures that have grown over the years and circles of friends are destroyed.

We declared our solidarity with the squatters of the last weeks in Leipzig in the Ludwigstrasse 71 and the Bornaische Strasse 34 and read a greeting of the evicted LuWi squatters inside. A speech expressed our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the so-called United States. We expressly join the Free Them All campaign, which demands the release of all prisoners of the George Floyd Rebellion. [Read More]

Leipzig: Luwi71 evicted, but the price is getting higher and higher

On Wednesday September 2, just two days before the Weekend of discussion and action started, cops evicted the Luwi 71 squat. In the days that followed the price of the eviction was getting higher and higher and it ain’t over yet. Tonight (Sept 5) there will be another demo.
[Read More]

Caen: as long as there are people on the street, we’ll squat!

Demonstration Saturday, September 5, 2 pm.

Since last June 24th, the Calvados prefecture has evicted nine squats in the Caen agglomeration in which about 360 people lived, the majority of which were families with children. The squats on rue Bayet in Mondeville and rue La Varende in Hérouville-Saint-Clair were evicted during the extended winter truce on July 10 with a state of health emergency. Seven other squats have since been evicted: allée du Bosphore in Caen, route de Caen à Ifs, rue Pasteur in Mondeville, rue Desmoueux, Boulevard Guillou, rue Damozanne and rue de la Grace de dieu in Caen.

The Prefecture’s intention is to place a maximum number of people in CRA (Administrative Detention Center) or to assign them to residence, thus putting them under the permanent threat of expulsion from French territory. The policy of repression put in place by the state is intensifying, two Georgians were recently expelled following a squat eviction.

Currently, around 200 people do not have a permanent accommodation solution, some of them benefit from temporary solidarity, others live in tents or in their cars in undignified conditions. [Read More]

Leipzig: Luwi71 evicted

You can take the Luwi from us, but not our dreams

Yesterday on september 2nd the Luwi71 was evicted. At about six o’clock in the morning, cops started trying to enter the house. Thanks to strong barricades, this was not possible with the battering ram. Only chainsaws gave the state authorities access. After about three hours the police announced the end of the operation on Twitter. So the Luwi was empty again and dreams of non-commercial open spaces and cheap housing lay in ruins like the entrance door.
Thanks to the solidarity and vigilance of local residents and a dedicated surveillance system monitoring the movement of the cops in the neighbourhood, the people in the house were all able to flee from the police in time. Nevertheless, four people were picked up near the house and their identities were established. Three people were then temporarily taken to the Dimitroff guard. Two people on suspicion of trespassing. They are therefore accused of having been squatters. The third person because of an open arrest warrant, which is due to an unpaid fine for incorrectly affixing a dog tax stamp. After the money was paid, the third person could leave.
The other two were also able to leave the station around half past ten, but not before DNA was taken from them and their ears measured.
It has been shown that profits and capital are more important than the needs of city dwellers. Private property as the highest value of this system has won once again. Once again the state is unable to provide housing for all people. The needs of the people are secondary in this system. [Read More]

Spanish State: When squatting is a right

The peaceful occupation of uninhabited houses in an act of social disobedience to an unjust model of distribution of wealth that deprives more and more people of a dignified life. The demand for the decriminalization of this type of occupation is another step towards social justice.

This August the media have bombarded us with alarmist news about the growing occupation of inhabited homes, giving relevance to a phenomenon that until now has been a minority and getting the most conservative and reactionary voices to clamor for a supposed “anti-occupation law. On the reasons behind this campaign, I recommend reading Emmanuel Rodríguez; it is up to me to convince those who read me that the only legitimate debate on this issue is, at present, to demand the decriminalization of the occupation. [Read More]

Angers: a look back at the demonstration in support of the Grande Ourse and the court case

On Tuesday 1st September, the Grande Ourse squat and its inhabitants were summoned to the judicial court by the owner, who demanded their immediate eviction. The collective having called for a rally at 1pm in front of the building and a support march, the afternoon was busy and lively. A quick look back at the mobilisation and the hearing itself.

About a hundred people finally gathered in front of the Grande Ourse. Time for a coffee and the departure was launched by the batukada. All dressed in pink, the percussionists cheerfully lead the march. As soon as the bridge is crossed, the cops lead the small procession. Three vans and a car just for us, the prefecture has spoiled us! The cops, recognising some people, allow themselves unnecessary words and some stupid remarks about their looks. They definitely don’t change… The demonstration then goes through the town centre animated by songs, hastily prepared that very morning (and it shows), drums or slogans about the right to housing. In spite of our small number, we make noise and the passers-by look at us with curiosity. The numerous banners then attract their attention. One can read: “less bourgeois, more roofs; “fuck the mayor and his evictions” or “it’s not the winter truce we want, it’s the truce itself”. [Read More]

Madrid: Imminent threat of eviction of the Ateneo Libertario de Vallekas

At the end of August we received a nice notification from the court that on September 16th the police and the locksmith would come to the space to proceed with the eviction. Our space, the Ateneo Libertario de Vallekas, has been serving for two years as a place for activities, debates, assemblies, gymnasium and a meeting point for various libertarian initiatives.

Thus we find ourselves in Vallekas, a neighborhood in the city of Madrid, a breeding ground for capitalist speculation, led by successive city councils, regardless of their political persuasion; the neighborhood is a breeding ground for real estate companies, banks, vulture funds, big landowners, journalists and the occasional submissive citizen. Vallekas has been through these speculative processes like gentrification, which have already devastated the center of the city and reached the working class neighborhoods of the periphery years ago. The idea is simple: to turn the neighborhood into an immense commercial center where the only possible relationship is that which is structured around consumption, which expels and pursues poverty, criminalizing it in favor of a new profile of inhabitant with greater purchasing power. The rise in rents is only the tip of the iceberg. The city of the rich is built on the expulsion, the precarization of life and the impossibility of free use of the street and space by its inhabitants. [Read More]

Strasbourg: La Pigeonne threatened with eviction, let’s mobilize. Imminent danger!

In a period where violent and even illegal evictions of tenants and squats have resumed (as in Caen and Gap), while the prolonged winter truce ended on July 10, threats of imminent eviction are hanging over La Pigeonne in the coming days or weeks. In the context of a global pandemic and unprecedented social and economic crisis, these moves are all the more intolerable.

As a reminder, La Pigeonne welcomes women, children and queer, precarious, exiled and marginalized people, occupying in Cronenbourg (Strasbourg) a building abandoned for several years by private owners. Since February 27, 2020, the house at 25 rue des pigeons has thus become a self-managed, queer-feminist housing and organization squat with a chosen gender mix (no cisgender men*). The existence of this place, where solidarities impossible to obtain by other means are built, is therefore necessary and vital.

We call upon the solidarity of the neighborhood and the entire population of Strasbourg to mobilize and defend this place in order to ensure the safety of its inhabitants. [Read More]

Paris: families living on the streets sleep in front of the Prefecture

After a month of alerts to the services of the Paris City Hall and the Ile-de-France Prefecture remained unanswered, 107 exiled families living on the streets settled on Monday August 31 on the forecourt of the City Hall to put an end to this unworthy situation. The objective: to obtain permanent accommodation for all of them.

Since 2015, the public authorities have shown their inability to provide a dignified welcome for exiled people arriving in Paris, in defiance of their legal obligations. Among these people are many families and single women whose time spent on the streets is constantly increasing before they are offered care.

Every evening since 2017, the association Utopia 56 has been trying as best it can to make up for these state and municipal shortcomings via a network of solidarity-based shelters. This network is made up of about 250 people living in the Ile-de-France region who take in single women, families and couples living on the streets. [Read More]

Montpellier: eviction of the Bouisson-Bertrand squat, eviction of shame

The police evicted the Bouisson-Bertrand squat, located rue de la Croix-Verte in the Euromédecine district of Montpellier, on the morning of Monday August 31st. The squat had been hosting up to 200 refugees and asylum seekers for more than a year and a half. Dozens of migrants and activists gathered in front of the Prefecture to ask for emergency re-housing solutions, in vain. The founder of the association Solidarité Partagée, which managed the squat, was arrested this morning and placed in police custody following this sit-in, which lasted all night long.

One of the biggest squats in Montpellier, for several months under threat of eviction.

The association Solidarité Partagée was created three years ago by Samuel Forest, President, and Lilian Moutonnet, Secretary General. It first occupied the site of the Château de Leyris, near the Saint-Roch train station, for nine months. But faced with unsatisfactory sanitary conditions and the threat of eviction, the association moved in January 2019 to a building belonging to the Bouisson-Bertrand foundation, located in rue de la Croix-Verte. [Read More]