Last week, residents at the Stay Away received an eviction notice from the Alameda County Sherriff, ordering them to vacate by this Tuesday, July 23rd. The Stay Away is a squatted four-unit apartment building that was started in November of 2011 in the midst of the events surrounding Occupy Oakland. It has housed numerous people since it began and provided free rent for those who needed it. Now it is threatened with destruction at the hands of REO Homes LLC, a predatory entity that has bought hundreds of foreclosed houses in the City of Oakland (especially West Oakland).
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Oakland: All Out To Support The Stay Away Squat!
Calais: Global No Border squat on Rue Caillette safe for now
Today (June 18) the court in Calais declared the municipality’s request for the eviction of the squat on Rue Caillette “unreceivable” for procedural reasons. This means that the city will have to resubmit and argue their case all over again before being able to evict, giving those living there more valuable time before being forced back onto Calais’ streets. Here is an open letter which was submitted for the defence by the occupants.
The ineptitude of the municipality in how they handled this case has been surprising although very welcome. Apparently, when forced to respect the law and abide by procedure the city does not know what to do, having gotten so accustomed to breaking down doors and throwing people out over the years (old habits die hard). [Read More]
London: Roma Solidarity
In picture: rubber-cloved police smirk as they chase away Roma in a dawn raid on 19 July against the Marble Arch encampment in London’s high-class Park Lane district, assisted by immigration officers and staff from the Romanian Embassy. Some seventy people, including children, had been sleeping in the open under blankets and plasic.
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Krakow: New social centre
(12.07) At six o’clock in Krakow group of activists announced the opening of a new stand-alone on the street Worcella 8 The building is located at the retail park, arousing controversy for years now has a chance to become a space for grassroots socio – cultural.
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UK: Brixton squatters fight back against eviction
Yesterday morning, Lambeth Council, the National Eviction Team and dozens of cops evicted 75 people from their homes in Rushcroft Road, Brixton. After 32 years, Lambeth Council has now decided to sell off the properties to estate agent giant and notorious tax dodger Foxtons. Fuelled by anger at the increasing gentrification of Brixton alongside Lambeth councils continuous failure to provide affordable housing, squatters, residents and locals put up a strong fight against the evictions.
A very excellent eyewitness account of yesterdays events can be found here.
And a Vice magazine article with some good pic’s here.
Santa Cruz, USA : ‘Black Bloc’ Action at Gov. Center Calls Attention to Police Seizure of Homeless Property
Activist Says Property Seizure is Designed To Harass Homeless Out of Santa Cruz.
On July 3, an activist served representatives of the Santa Cruz County government with a written notice stating that the Sheriff department’s policy of seizing the property of pre-trial homeless detainees violates federal code and the United States Constitution. The notice was accepted, and the activist believes that if a lawsuit is brought against the county, the authorities can not assert that they were unaware of the dangers they subject the homeless to. The activist served the notice wearing a face mask, believing strongly that individuals have the right to serve branches of the government with legal papers anonymously.
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London: Stop evicting Brixton!
Rushcroft Road Eviction – this Monday 15th July.
Join the people of the Rushcroft Road to stop Lambeth evicting Brixton.
We are 75 people living in 6 blocks of residential flats in central Brixton who are facing eviction from our homes. Most of us have occupied and squatted the building for decades. One person has been here for 32 years. Generations of families have grown up here.
Lambeth council have let these buildings go into a state of disrepair. We have made these buildings into our homes.
Now there are significant profits to be made they will renovate the buildings and sell them off. In doing so they are destroying a community with deep roots in Brixton. This is part of a wider trend in and around London boroughs where councils socially cleanse, motivated solely by money, pushing out those who have been for many years. [Read More]
USA: We’re suing Uncle Sam for HOUSING – here are the photos and press coverage!
The Federal Government is obligated by law to invest money in the National Housing Trust Fund, which should go inro housing for folks hit hard by the financial crisis – as well as folks hit hard by centuries of institutional racism and oppression!
But that money is MIA.
In fact, over $380 million is missing from the trust fund.
That’s why we’re suing the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
And that’s why we had this press conference yesterday.
All of our photos from the lawsuit-announcement press release are here.
A terrific article in the Wall Street Journal goes deep into the background of the suit. [Read More]
London,UK : Please come to Grow Heathrow
We will give more updates as soon as we can, but the short story is that we urgently need people to come to site to help us plan. We’ve just heard that we lost our appeal in the UK’s second-highest court so the landowner now has a live possession order. We don’t know the landowner’s plans, so we don’t know whether or when he will apply for a warrant from the County Court for bailiffs, and beyond then whether or when he might hire bailiffs.
Oakland, USA : National Lawyers Guild Wins Settlement for Occupy Oakland Injuries in Campbell vs Oakland
Twelve people injured by the Oakland police department during Occupy Oakland demonstrations have settled a federal civil rights lawsuit with the city of Oakland for a total of $1.17 million. The physical injuries came as a result of OPD’s violent response to Occupy Oakland on October 25 and November 2, 2011. Plaintiffs to receive compensation for injuries include David Morse, a long-time member of the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center (Indybay).
The settlement in the Campbell vs. City of Oakland case comes on the heals of another $1 million settlement still pending final approval, Spalding vs. City of Oakland. As a result of both cases, OPD has agreed to allow the federal court to enforce OPD’s compliance with its own crowd control policy and to negotiate with the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) before making any changes to the policy. The control policy prohibits police from shooting “less lethal” impact munitions or tossing explosive teargas grenades into crowds, and prohibits mass arrests without warning or opportunity to disperse.
San Francisco Tenants protest at Rick Holman’s Home as part of ‘Eviction Free Summer’
Tenants facing eviction from the historic 17 Reasons building by developer and landlord Rick Holman protested outside of his home in South Park in San Francisco this Tuesday. Since the start of the eviction process, Holman has used a variety of tactics such as illegal lockouts of tenants, harassment from security guards, as well as a web of surveillance systems against those paying rent at the building that he wants gone. During a recent block party against gentrification in the Mission District, Holman also worked closely with the police to ensure that the building would not be “occupied” by protestors, and also issued an ‘unlawful detainer’ to residents inside on the day of the event. How many times have we all had landlords come to our homes, walk around, issue demands, and threaten us? Landlords hold great power over our lives and also take massive amounts of money out of our hands that we make by our labors and put it into their pockets. Thus, it’s great to see people taking the fight to their doorsteps and raising a ruckus in their bourgie neighborhoods. Often, most people are too afraid to stand up to the cops, the landlords, and the developers, but we need only keep in mind that are all united in our experiences and our desire to live freely. Hopefully, this is just the start!