Amsterdam: VluchtMarkt Court Case – Ten Katestraat 61-63

By: fawda - June 18th, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

Tomorrow, Thursday 19th, at 10.30 AM court case for defending the VluchtMarkt

The squatted buildings on Ten Katestraat 61 and 63, owned by Rochdale, are under threat. The officer of justice Otto van der Bijl has sent the 8 weeks notice, which means that not the owner, but the state itself is taking initiative against the refugees. It is the first time that a ‘We Are Here‘ squat is treated with the criminal law. According to local politicians, Rochdale still seems to have no plans and no permits to renovate the properties, while the people occupying them have spend many weeks re-building the spaces (including toilets, showers, electricity, floors and ceilings) and made them safe and liveable. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Valreep getting evicted right now

By: sisulscz - June 17th, 2014  Filed under: News

Live ticker (in Dutch)
SUMMARY:
The Valreep never got the chance to present our plans to the city council and the project developer OCP, even though we have an investor and valid business plan. The Valreep could have survived without subsidy but apparantly has to be replaced for yet another yuppie cafe.

The riot cops needed thirteen hours today to evict social centre Op de Valreep. The bustling, independent neighbourhood initiative has existed for almost three years without any subsidy and with volunteers only. At least 17 people have been arrested. People were locked on top of and in the building in lockons, big barrels filled up with concrete. Update: 12 people have been released!
[Read More]

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Amsterdam: Op De Valreep Defense!

By: pinkxedge - June 17th, 2014  Filed under: News

For three years Op De Valreep has created valuable infrastructure for people living in Amsterdam East and has provided opportunities to build community. Despite campaigns to legalize the space, the city of Amsterdam and the developer OCP are moving to evict the squatted community center.

Supporters of “Op de Valreep” have constructed massive barricades to block the city government and the police from carrying out the eviction.

The eviction is expected to occur on Tuesday, June 17th, 2014

[Read More]

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Amsterdam: Valreep is going to be evicted

By: sisulscz - June 15th, 2014  Filed under: Communique

Dear friends of the Valreep,

The court’s decision 13/6/14 was negative: The Valreep will be evicted. We’re entering this weekend the very very last stage of the Valreep.
[Read More]

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Sao Paolo: Brazil poverty vs super stadia

By: sisulscz - June 14th, 2014  Filed under: News

From mainstream press – update on World Cup occupation

Since Sao Paulo’s Itaquerão stadium was built, residents living in its vicinity, including retirees and families with children, told Al Jazeera their rent jumped between 20-35 percent, and new costs associated with living near the stadium were now too hard to manage.

On May 2, a group of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem-Teto (MTST, Homeless Workers Movement) took action on behalf of about 4,800 homeless people living near the $350-million stadium, where the first game of the World Cup will take place on Thursday, and set up camp. Residents call it the “People’s Cup” and they have flown the red MTST flag to protest billions of dollars spent on the stadiums, rather than housing.
[Read More]

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Norway: Brakkebygrenda evicted

By: sisulscz - June 14th, 2014  Filed under: News

Brakkebygrenda, previously under threat has now been evicted.

Here’s a short update: The police came on Wednesday June 6th and evicted everybody, towing away most wagons and demolished a treehouse and three barracks. Squatters are currently looking for a new spot.

[For more infos: Brakkebygrenda website.]
[Read More]

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Refugees in Calais: the hunger strike has begun

By: fawda - June 11th, 2014  Filed under: Communique, News

As agreed, the refugees occupying the food distribution center had breakfast together this morning. They formed two groups, those who will continue to eat and those who are fasting. Those fasting had slightly larger portions. They sat in the middle of the courtyard. Yesterday, they made a list of 53 people willing to get involved. By late morning, there were more than thirty of them waiting for those who had tried to cross that night to join them – something they will no longer be able to do during the fast. This afternoon, we should know more precisely how many will participate in the hunger strike. [Read More]

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Another illegal eviction in Calais

By: fawda - June 11th, 2014  Filed under: News

After Natasha Bouchart, Senator-Mayor of Calais, presented her new anti-squatting law in the senate last week, the illegal evictions continue in Calais.

A new house was opened in Calais on the weekend of May 31st to 1st June. After a week of going unnoticed (to avoid possible eviction without a trial in the first 48 hour), the occupation was made public on Sunday, June 8 (despite some confusing information announcing it as “the next opening” published on the website of La Voix du Nord on Saturday, June 7th ), and the first contact was made with passersby, neighbors and the bar newsagent opposite. Some of them considered the occupation of this house, which has been empty for three years, totally legitimate. Another house on the street about fifty yards away is already squatted. [Read More]

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Athens: Shots Fired at K*VOX Squat

By: sisulscz - June 7th, 2014  Filed under: News

In the early hours of Tuesday, June 3rd, at about 02:30, unknown people fired at least 5 shots at the main entrance of the squatted social centre K*VOX. Two of the bullets pierced the outer metal blinds, shattering the glass front entrance door. [see photo] Luckily, at the time, no comrade was inside the squat.

Lately, the K*VOX —along with residents, collectives and fighters from the neighbourhood— has taken a series of initiatives to act against the mafia gangs and the drug trade in Exarchia, which is carried out with the police’s tolerance and cover-up.
[Read More]

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UK: Why #ACAB? One person’s experience of Political Policing

By: sisulscz - June 7th, 2014  Filed under: essay

Given all the media attention on Police malpractice recently, and the constant, repetitive wheeling out of the “few bad apples” analogy, it seemed timely to explain why Anticapitalists hate the Police so much. Rather than present some dry, academic thesis full of depressing facts and figures (there are plenty of those about at the moment!) we have decided to simply post one local Anticapitalist’s experience of dealing with the Police as a “Political Activist” and homeless person.
[Read More]

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Berlin: Squatting memories

By: sisulscz - June 6th, 2014  Filed under: essay

When, for a short time at the beginning of the nineties, the underground was in charge of East Berlin’s centre, activist and photographer Ben de Biel was there: at Kunsthaus Tacheles, at I.M. Eimer, and as the founder of MARIA Club. Today, de Biel has moved on from organizing events and now works as the press relations officer for the Piraten Partei. In this monologue, part of a series of artists and other key cultural figures speaking openly about their artistic experience in the city, de Biel told us about his own Berlin experiment.
[Read More]

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East London: Illegal eviction

By: sisulscz - June 4th, 2014  Filed under: News

On Monday June 2nd, at around 6pm, a squatted building in on New North Road, East London was illegally evicted by security, bailiffs and police, resulting in a thirteen hour stand-off. The building, an old car wash, is completely abandoned and going to be demolished. It is owned by Royal Mail and due to be the site of a new post office, since the old one nearby is being closed down to build luxury flats.
[Read More]

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