Berlin: Police raid on Liebig34

By: fawda - July 20th, 2019  Filed under: News

This morning 6:30, the police broke into Liebig34 to search evidence and DNA in one room. The reason is an attack with stones against repression forces on Friday night. Soon after many riot police vans and a helicopter arrived, a barricade was burning in Rigaer Street. After some hours police left, no one was arrested. There is a call for resistance tonight and solidarity actions.
Cops destroyed doors and took some stuff. You are welcome to pass by but cops are still around in the area.

Statement from Liebig34:

Raided. Radical. Motivated
Saturday 20.07.2019 Friedrichshainer Nordkiez:

This morning, the cops of the LKA 5.21 unit under the command of Kranich raided Liebig34. Unusual was the saturday, unusual the mix of units from different departments. New were a few civil cop faces, not new: the repression. [Read More]

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Crete: Call-out for support from Evagelismos squat

By: fawda - July 14th, 2019  Filed under: News

Comrades,

Evagelismos Squat in Heraklion Crete is a space with a continuous 17-year history in the anarchist/antiauthoritarian movement. From May 2002 until today, it has given small and big battles, contributing with a small tile in the mosaic that is Anarchism in Greece. In July 2008, there was an ultimatum and subsequent threat of evacuation from the Dean of the University of Crete. Same with January of 2013 during the crackdown on squats by the Minister of Public Order, Dendias. In both cases we got to work and thanks to the solidarity from the movement, we have managed to still be here. However, despite the repression from the state, spaces such as this require continuous engagement and improving so as to continue to satisfy the needs of the movement. During the summer of 2015, we took it upon ourselves to repair the front facade of the building, based solely on our powers and ,of course, those of the movement. This summer, we are at a crossroads regarding the livability of the movement’s infrastructures. [Read More]

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Berlin: The Fight for Liebig34 goes further

By: fawda - July 9th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

The Court hearing for the eviction of our anarcha-queer-feminist housing project will take place on the 20th of september 2019. Padovicz wants to snitch away the house, while the politicians are trying to keep our mouths shut. Both parties are awaiting a final court decision. We do not let any cis-men decide about the future of our anarcha-queer-feminist project, cause simply no one should decide about us, but ourselves.

The last weeks in Nordkiez

Lately, the presence of cops in our neighbourhood increased massively. Helicopters are flying daily and nightly over our roofs. Multiple police vans drive through our streets and ID-controls become part of everyday normality.

Also, during our self-organized neighbour fest in which a lot of children participated, the cops reacted in an aggressive way, trying to ruin our day. Several persons sympathizing with our project, have been arrested and taken into custody. The arrests of these friends were very violent and sexist. Whether it’s about getting a coffee in the morning at the other side of the street or having dinner in front of our house, the cops find ways to intimidate us. The system of state tries to silence us by all means. As a consequence, we face daily confrontation with the cops. However, their provocation is not something we allow to set us back or keep us small. It is something that encourages us to resist.
We are aware that their violent behavior is purely a reaction on our mobilization in our joint-fight against gentrification, patriarchy and capital. All of this, shows us, that our battle against “the city of the rich and powerful” is effectively starting to worry the establishment. [Read More]

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Utrecht: New squat!

By: fawda - July 7th, 2019  Filed under: News

Since a few days, a group of squatters has been occupying a building located at the Australiëlaan 18-22 in Utrecht. Since 1998, a family from Woerden had ownership of the building. The company Boxx Opslagverhuur wants to use the building as storage place, though their plan has been rejected by the municipality of Utrecht on November 12, 2018. So far there are no concrete signs the place will be used on a short term. That’s why we arrived!
The cops have been informed about the situation. This morning around 25 people showed up in solidarity. We are still waiting for them to come. The ambiance is nice and chill, and we will keep you updated in case the cops arrive or the situation changes. [Read More]

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London: Call out for a noise demo in solidarity with Barcelona’s war on gentrification

By: fawda - July 7th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

On Monday 8th July at 8.30am, activists will gather in front of Blackstone offices at 40 Berkley Square in London W1 J5AL for a noise demo to show solidarity with Barcelona’s residents fighting against gentrification.

Blackstone Group, a New York based multinational private equity firm and the World’s largest alternative investment company*, is the biggest property and hotel owner in Spain. The firm, along other large companies such as Goldman Sachs, Apollo Management and Cerberus, have been buying tens of thousands of residential properties in Spain and then raising rents and evicting thousands of long-term tenants to make space for richer and more “desirable” residents: or just leaving homes to rot empty while their value increases. [Read More]

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Madrid: CSOA La Gatonera evicted

By: fawda - June 30th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

First of all, we want to thank all the people who have shown their support and solidarity, especially the collectives, spaces and individuals of the neighborhood. Thanks to the support, we have managed to resist more than 24 hours at the door and hold a demonstration and a parade that hopefully has made it clear that we are still here and will continue to fight.
It has been at least a year since the beginning of threats and coercion by the new owner and his watch dogs (private security companies). There were threats to get an eviction squad after refusing to accept their money (15.000 euros) to leave the building. Seeing that they couldn’t bend us, they started the legal way to evict us. The sentence for the usurpation trial was not favorable to them, and they were still in a situation of appeal. [Read More]

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Bologna (Italy): social center XM24 supporters face down national agenda to close self-organized spaces

By: fawda - June 27th, 2019  Filed under: News

The autonomous public space XM24 in Bologna is one of the latest organizations to come under pressure from Italian authorities aiming to evict and disperse them. National politicians such as Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, a leader of the far-right Northern League (Lega Nord) and collaborationist municipal governments have cracked down on multi-purpose, autonomous social spaces across Italy.

Bologna has a long history as a “red city” with substantial leftist and anti-authoritarian organizing, with the oldest university in Europe dating to 1088 and continuing political influence by communist and socialist parties. Partisan fighters (partigiani) carried out guerrilla warfare against Mussolini’s fascist forces during World War II in the surrounding region. A popular armed uprising aimed at social revolution finally liberated the city on April 21, 1945, a day now commemorated every year.

From World War II to the present day, antifascist groups maintain a strong presence in Bologna. The cover photo above is from an April 25, 2019 antifascist demonstration that passed by XM24, marking a national day of liberation from fascism. The yellow banner says “Against all fascisms. Against racism, sexism and exploitation.” [Read More]

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London: Squatter’s Digest, Festivals and Frontlines

By: fawda - June 23rd, 2019  Filed under: News

As the riot police continued to batter the last of our barricades, blasting through the structural brickwork of the back entrance to our squat I knew it was time to go. I tried to lug my bookshelf down the stairs to safety, but sadly was forced to leave it behind as I was dragged past the lines of helmets and shields to await my fate in the outside world. Sorry for the delay, but welcome back to Squatter’s Digest. Stick around as I try to rattle off all the comings and goings in the squat world over the last couple of months.

So we were finally evicted from our squat in East London, overwhelmed by the riot squad, local bobbies, and high court bailiffs. Two of our number were arrested, although have since been released. In the words of the rossers themselves “apparently it’s okay to assault the police these days” (you can taste the bitter sarcasm with which such words were offered). It may be just coincidence, but it does feel like there has been a push by councils in east London (particularly Newham and Tower Hamlets) to rid the borough of squats. In fact at the time of writing there were no less than four squats either going through court or due to be evicted in the week. [Read More]

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Germany: Aachen is squatting again!

By: fawda - June 21st, 2019  Filed under: News

During the international climate strike today, we occupied the Bastei. Those who live in Aachen for a bit longer, probably know the Bastei. Between 1930 and 1990 it hosted a lot of different kinds of pubs and bars. Since 1994 the Theater K played shows there. 2014 the theatre moved out, since then the building is empty. According to the local press, during this time the Bastei was owned by the architect and investor Hans Kahlen. Although Kahlen was one of the main initiators of the Aquis Plaza shopping mall. More ore less 29.000 qm of living places were destroyed for this project and many little shops had to close or to move.

All over Germany its the same system: cheap living places get sold to private investors who raise the rents for their private enrichment. If there are new building projects, it‘s expensive flats for the rich or bullshit like the Aquis Plaza. While the ecological base of our lives is getting destroyed faster and faster, there is enough living spaces for all of us. Its just not well shared. Because our economical system is not based on the needs of people but on consumerism. It aims for a constant growing, while the fossil resources are not growing with it. So why should we build new houses, that again destroy landscape and need a lot of resources, if we can just move into the ones already existing and kept empty? [Read More]

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Bern (Switzerland): Brunnmattstrasse 46a evicted

By: fawda - June 20th, 2019  Filed under: News

On Wednesday morning, 19 june, the occupied house on Brunnmattstrasse 46a was evicted by the police. After ten days of animation, the announced program can unfortunately not be carried out. Solidarity with the occupants and stay on your guard! The ideas live on! [Read More]

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Amsterdam: SADC demands eviction Lutkemeerpolder

By: fawda - June 19th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

This thursday june 20th, there will be summary proceedings on the Lutkemeerpolder (at 9.30 am, Parnassusweg, Amsterdam). On that day, the project developer, (employed by the municipality (*), who wants to turn the expensive Lutkemeerpolder into a grey business park), filed a lawsuit. It is demanded that the Gardens of Lutkemeer be evicted and that no one be allowed to enter the site for two years.
This is the next step towards starting the construction activities. When those building activities begin – by driving trucks with construction sand out of the polder, it will become permanently unusable for (organic) agriculture. So even if they then decide not to cultivate the polder, irreversible damage will have occurred. Moreover, there is a motion from the city council that they may only start preparing the land if there are also demonstrable customers for the piece of land in question. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Apartment squatted on the Da Costastraat 137!

By: fawda - June 11th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

On sunday 9 june, the apartment on the Da Costastraat 137H was squatted. This apartment was empty for many years and is owned by a person who has 22 properties in his own name. There is also a company that is registered on his name which has another 99 properties.
The main reason that we have taken this action is to provide ourselves with housing. We would rather rent the house for a reasonable price. Nevertheless, there are still a number of points that we would like to raise.
In Oud-West (Old West), the waiting time for a social housing is up to 14 years. Oud-West is therefore one of the districts where the number of social housing has since long dropped down under 35%, the boundary where there is a mixed district. Unfortunately, this is already a reality in large parts of the city. For example, this lower limit has already been passed in large parts of the Centre, West, South, and Ijburg. In West, in addition to Oud-West, the Baarsjes are also important. This is something we are worried about.
A poignant example is the wasteland on the Jan Pieter Heijestraat, where the 35 social housing units were demolished in 2009. Instead of new houses coming back to replace the demolished ones, it turned out to be for the construction of a hotel. Now, 10 years later, this plot is still vacant. [Read More]

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