London students who occupied a space in the run-up to the November 30th public sector strike were under the jurisdiction of the Met’s SO15 Counter Terrorism Command, FITwatch have learned today.
Bloomsbury Social Centre [now evicted] – which aimed to be a “hub of organising for students, workers and residents in the Bloomsbury area” – held regular reading groups, served food, provided a silent study space and workers rights info evenings. SO15 (Counter Terrorism Command) was born in 2006, when SO12 (Special Branch) and SO13 (Anti-Terrorist Branch) were merged. It claims to be committed to “ensure[ing] that London remains a hostile environment for terrorists.” and also polices so-called ‘domestic extremists’
[Read More]
London: Student centre branded terrorist
Occupy London publicly repossesses empty nine-storey building in the Barbican
Occupy London this morning (21/01/12) publicly repossessed Roman House, an abandoned nine-storey office building in the Barbican in the City of London which previously housed companies from the financial service industries. [1] The Occupy London campaigners – part of the global movement for social and economic justice and real democracy – stated that they intend to occupy the building – their fifth occupation – until such time as the City of London Corporation publishes full details of its City Cash Accounts. This is a request that Occupy London has consistently asked off the Corporation, so that it can become a more transparent public body like every other public body in the country. [2] [3]
[Read More]
London: OffMarket Project Coming To An End
It is with mixed feelings that we announce the end of the offMarket project. We took disused buildings and try to turn them into open resources for the wider community. We started the project with a big collective. Now there are only a few people left in the collective and we can’t carry it anymore as everyone is becoming increasingly tired. We doubt that we will open a new space in the future, but one can never say never.
[Read More]
Squatters march through Brighton streets
Three squats are due in court as the owners of the buildings try and regain possession.
The protest started at 10.30 outside Brighton County Court in solidarity with the squatters in court. Once the last squatters have had their court case heard the protesters will march through the centre of Brighton to raise awareness of the benefits of squatting and the attack on squatting by right wing Hove MP, Mike Weatherly.
[Read More]
France: ZAD, Eviction document converted into eviction attempt
The 13th of January, “Les Planchettes”, “Bel-Air”, “Le Tertre” and “La Gaité” received a letter from the baliff announcing that he had come to deliver a “document of eviction converted to an attempt at eviction” on the 10th, but hadn’t found anyone to give it to.
He would also ask the police chief for help from the “forces of order”, but we still haven’t managed to know the response of the police chief.
It seems they are going to try to not apply the “winter truce” (which means no evictions until March 15) that the judge seems to have given. [Read More]
Pinheirinho Occupation, Sao Paulo resisting eviction now
The mega-operation of the police to vacate the Pinheirinho has started. Police helicopters are flying around and throwing leaflets urging residents to retreat without resistance. The residents are firm and organised to resist the eviction.Leaflets from the residents read “A physical presence there is crucial at this time. The campaign of legal moes is very important, but the physical presence there is crucial at this time. Eviction can happen at any time. Tomorrow we want as many leaders and activists in this activity. We call on all organizations and movements to go out tomorrow to the city of San Jose Campos and collaborate in this act of resistance at Pinheirinho. This is our fight. 100% Pinheirinho!”
Walbrzych (Poland) : Rent strike and mothers’ strike in 2010
“Mothers’ strike” is a documentary that shows the living conditions of the striking women in Walbrzych in 2010, their struggle against local authorities, conflicts with welfare institutions and their self-organizing attempts. They explain how their living situation relates to the changes in the labour market. It challenges housing and employment relations in a polish Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and the particular situation of women workers who refuse to carry the double burden of wage and reproductive work. These women went on rent strikes, and some of them started to squat for a living.
« Mother’s strike » (22’, 2010, SzumTV and Feminist Think Tank, Poland)
The movie, in polish with english subtitles, is here.
San Juan City (Philippines): Squatters’ resistance against a police demolition attack
- Article mainly translated from the original article in french, January 12th, 2012.
[San Juan City is a city in the Manila’s eastern suburb, Philippines‘ capital.]
“Patay kung patay. Hindi kami aalis dito.”
[We’ll die if we have to. We’re not going anywhere.]
A man who lives in Corazon de Jesus, January 11th, 2012
A lot of mainstream media [1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5], #sanjuandemolition on Twitter and some local alternative media talked about the events of January 11th 2012, when more than 400 policemen (including at least 100 riot-police) tried to impose a massive demolition operation on Corazon de Jesus, a poor area of San Juan City.
On December 6th, 2011, a demolition warning was given by the City to the Corazon de Jesus’ inhabitants. They had until January 11th to move out. Almost none of them moved.
In this area of San Juan City, about 2 000 homes are concerned by the demolition operations, resistance is going on since June 2010. In one year and a half, 400 homes have been demolished by the State forces. [Read More]
Elba squat in Warzaw threatened with eviction!
There’s an alarm call [in polish language] about eviction on their website : http://elba.bzzz.net
Elba was established in autumn 2004 and is run by collective of people who decide about the place by consensus. The collective include both people living here and people organising events and running workshops, all taking part in decision making.
They are involved in series of social and political actions, and we try to make our squat an active place, open for many different ideas. Among other things you will find here freeshop, bike workshop, rehearsal room, screenprinting workshop, climbing wall, skatepark, cafeteria and concert/perfomance room.
Hopefully more detailed information in english language soon.
See also here for more background information about Elba : http://www.spottedbylocals.com/warsaw/squat-elba
Sydney: Some anarchists celebrate New Year’s Eve by dropping eighteen banners from five empty buildings in the CBD
Found on Indymedia-Australia:
Some Sydney anarchists celebrate NYE by dropping 18 banners from 5 empty buildings in the CBD
Black Rose books – January 5th, 2012
On New Years Eve while the city streets were packed with drunken revelers and riot cops, a group of anarchist dropped 18 banners from five empty buildings in centre of Sydney. Sound-systems were also set up in two of the buildings with an anti-police hip hop/punk/dubstep mix which blasted out onto the streets. Anarchist slogans and symbols were sprayed on the windows in the buildings and on buses and banks in the streets below.
One of the locations from which we dropped 4 banners and set up a sound-system was a 7 story office building, chosen in solidarity with comrades in the Occupy Sydney movement who had recently squatted the space for a week in an attempt to build a social centre. [Read More]
Sydney: Workshop about squatting movements in Europe, at Occupy Sydney
Next saturday, January 14th, from 4:00pm to 5:00pm, let’s go to Occupy Sydney’s free school, there’s gonna be a workshop about squatting movements in Europe!
Location:
Occupy Sydney
Martin Place
CBD, Sydney
(In the case of heavy rain on Saturday, we will relocate some of Free School to the Visual Arts Space at 43/51 Cowper Wharf Rd. Walk through the Domain from Martin Place.)
The workshop is about squatting movements in Europe, focusing on the diversity of squats we can find in France and in Spain, taking different examples like the squats open in Barcelona in 2010 during the general strike and some other examples in France. A few words will be told about the intersquat solidarity in Europe and about the international website squat.net.
Some tips will be given about how to find and open and empty space. And afterwards, a discussion will happen, making links/relations between what happens in Europe and what happens in Sydney/Australia.
UK – Police Raids on Occupy Squats
As UK occupations squat more buildings the police, many of whom have criminal records are flouting the law to harass protesters, the Lords are debating making squatting residential buildings illegal, the government plans to make hundreds of thousands homeless and Occupy LSX is threatened with eviction.
[Read More]
Radar Online Agenda
