Budapest: Report from AK57

See also:
http://www.abb.hardcore.lt/archive/abb19/19_squatting_ak57.htm
http://squat.net/en/news/centrum_budapest081104.html
http://squat.net/en/news/budapest061005.html

Report from Squatting in Budapest with AK57

Already over half a year ago the first attempt of political squatting in Budapest since years started. Even though the house was evicted after only 2 weeks and this without any big resistance from the inhabitants (surely due to their lack of experience) we feel that it was a very important step. Also some of the squatters got “infected” by the spirit of communal living & acting, so they went on with a legal house/center project: AK 57. We hope that this project will go on and others (also new squats) will emerge. (ABB)

[Read More]

Osaka, Japan: Declaration of Protest Against the Evictions

10.Feb.2006

*Declaration of Protest Against the Evictions of Park Squatters in Utsubo and Osaka-jo Park*

On January 30th, 2006, mobilizing nearly 700 city employees, guardsmen and police against around 20 squatters in Utsubo Park and Osaka-jo Park, Osaka city forced through its eviction through so-called ‘administrative action’.

In the process of eviction, one person was illegitimately arrested on suspicion of ‘assault’, three were taken away in ambulances (of which one was a guardsmen with a broken bone that should take a month to heal), with many suffering contusions and other wounds. Until the last, our comrades who tried to defend their own tents and huts were pulled out as the city refused all discussion, and surrounded just steps away as their homes were shredded and smashed, forced to witness the eviction of all their belongings.

With rage in our hearts, we denounce this city’s inhuman violence.

[Read More]

Freiburg (Germany): D.I.Y. – against the State

An intergalactical activist & anarchist convention in South Germany from 26th to 30th July 2006.

Squatters, artists and truckers from all over the world welcome!

D.I.Y. against the state – an intergalactical artist, activist, dirty squatter – and – trucker anarchist convention
and Reclaim The Streets

Freiburg (Ger) 26. – 30. July 2006

Freiburg is a small medieval town in the Black Forest in southern germoney, not far from what they call the Swiss and French borders. Especially during summer, it’s the perfect location for subversive activities of all kinds.

For quite some time you can find there the same disgusting tendencies as in any place: State control and police repression keep getting worse, free spaces are getting smaller or evicted. The local autonomous centre KTS could all too soon be the last auto–organized, non–commercial venue in the south of germoney, and it’s only safe until 2007. The wagon site “Schattenparker” has a 12 – year – history of evictions, and three month ago, 30 trucks and trailers have been confiscated by the cops, leaving more than 30 people homeless.

[Read More]

Ljubljana: “We are temporary”, documentary about the Autonomous Factory Rog

Saturday 25th of March 2006 marked the start of the initiative to open the abandoned bicycle factory Rog for temporary use, with the intent to carry out non-profit, non-established activities on its premises. It is not a classic occupation of space, but a temporary alteration of its purposes. The 7000 square meter large factory – owned by the City of Ljubljana (MOL) – has already been left to decay for 15 years. As long as MOL doesn’t develop and begin implementing a clear strategy to solve the problem of these empty premises, we self-initiatively wish to open it to all individuals and groups engaged in the non-profit sector, for the realization of independent production of cultural and social content.
Rog – Smo zacasni / We are temporary is a documentary made by the temporary users of the factory Rog premises. [Read More]

Ljubljana: collective statement about opening Rog to the public

Saturday 25th of March 2006 marked the start of the initiative to open the abandoned bicycle factory Rog for temporary use, with the intent to carry out non-profit, non-established activities on its premises.

It is not a classic occupation of space, but a temporary alteration of its purposes. The 7000 square meter large factory – owned by the City of Ljubljana (hereafter MOL) – has already been left to decay for 15 years. As long as MOL doesn’t develop and begin implementing a clear strategy to solve the problem of these empty premises, we self-initiatively wish to open it to all individuals and groups engaged in the non-profit sector, for the realization of independent production of cultural and social content.

As a non-formal network of individuals we believe that our actions are completely legitimate and well-grounded, although, at the moment, lacking official permission. Our action was stimulated by the City Council with their profit-based mentality, bad management, and incorrect reaction to our initiative. At first, MOL agreed to lend these premises for a series of debates, lectures and exhibitions about the temporarily useless building and its future, but later changed its mind and cancelled the verbal contract half an hour before signing the official agreement. [Read More]

Barcelona: Ruben writes a letter…

¡Salud compañeros!

I’m writing from the prison of Can Brians, in the module number one, and i will make a brief summary since that shitty february 9th (the date of our kidnapping) up today (february 15th, 2006).

Everything starts at 8:30 AM when a friend calls us awakening me and my friend telling me that it seems like Ignasi’s house is being evicted in la Clota. We are a bit slow in reacting, but we decide to go to solidarize with him. We take a breakfast and we go down to the street to go there, when all of a sudden, as appearing from nowhere, a undetermined number of masked catalan secret police jumps on us, telling me i’m arrested for terrorism. The impact on me is pretty brusque, we’re searched against a wall and in this moment i lose my friend from sight, i’m taken into a car and they tell me the charges are setting up fire in a Banco Sabadell and in C.I.R.E. (a public-private enterprise that controls prisoners labour in catalonian prisons), and that they’re going to go upstairs to search my house. I tell them i want my lawyer to be there. They ask me his name and when i tell them, they start to laugh and tell me that only happens in movies, but i insist in my “rights” to be respected. They bring me up to my house handcuffed, with the hood down and making me look to the floor. In the street door i can finally raise my eyes up and then i realice the massive operation they set up, i believe about 14 secret police to be there, since there were 3 cars full of them and other 3 anti-riot vans in Drassanes Avenue.

[Read More]

Nantes (France): Why are we occupying the construction site of a prison?

February 20th, 2006

A group of several dozen people is currently occupying the trees which are on the future site of the E.P.M. (a prison for minors) d’Orvault, near to the city of Nantes (France), in an attempt to stop the construction. We want to show our opposition in a determined manner to the state and economic violence which is destroying our lives: imprisonment, misery, ghettoisation, the politics of “security”, racism, wage labour…

From prisons for minors to zero-tolerance politics
The French government is planning the construction of 7 prisons for minors of 13 to 18 years old between now and end of the year. This would mean 420 new prison places which would be in addition to the 850 that already exist in the youth wings of regular prisons.The other planned youth prisons in France will be located close to Valenciennes, Meaux, Lyon, Mantes-la-Jolie, Toulouse and Marseille.

[Read More]

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Sao Paolo (Brazil): South America’s largest squatted highrise building is under threat

09 Feb 2006

The “Prestes Maia”, by far the largest squatted highrise building on the South American continent, is under threat of eviction. With its 468 families, accounting for more than 1600 previously homeless people, including children, elderly and disabled, the building will shortly be returned to its ‘lawful’ owner, Mr. Hamuche & Co., who in the last 15 years of ‘ownership’ accumulated a debt in municipal taxes of some 5 million reais (approx. 2.2 million dollars / 2.1 million euros), which is more than the building is worth. This enormous debt, together with long years of abandonment, should well justify (even according to law) a claim for the building to become public property by the local municipality, but nevertheless will be returned to its owner, putting hundreds of people back onto the streets.

The 468 families, united in the Downtown Roofless Movement (Movimento Sem Teto do Centro or MSTC) of São Paulo, have lived in the 22-storey highrise since 2002. The building had simply been closed down for years and left in deplorable condition, serving as shelter for rats and cockroaches, as is the case of many buildings in downtown São Paulo. The new residents cleaned out tonnes of rubbish and litter (200 trucks to be exact!), organized it, expelled drugs and other criminal bosses always there to take advantage, turning it into an exciting and lively human dwelling.

[Read More]

Oslo: The H40/Vestbredden history (so far…)

H40 and the rest of the whole city-block had by then stod abandoned for quite a number of years, but lots of needles and garbage witnessed about provisionally inhabitants.

The years has passed Now there are 12-15 inhabitants at Vestbredden. A part of the building was exeptionaly damaged by leakage and thus infested with fungus. By removing the old insulation (wich was dirt) and put on new floor-boards we seem to have kept this problem at bay. [Read More]

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Grenoble, France: Interview with ex-400 Couverts squatters

“Les 400 couverts” was a five houses squatted street in grenoble, france. It was a place i used to enjoy a lot, and i felt like interviewing its squatters in order to make people know about it. When we actually made this interview, they were about to be evicted so it was a bit particular : barricades in the whole street and houses, dozens of people around waiting for the cops to come, but in a relaxed atmosphere and while having daily plans such has building a hut in a tree, learning how to climb on a house, collective readings of the Road Protest movement in the UK. In a pub, xavier and I asked questions to julie and alain, and to aude the day after. The three of them used to live or organize activities in Les 400 couverts. The interview is very long as the discussion was very long and interesting, i already cut large parts, didn’t feel like cutting more. Thanx loads to nico and his friends who helped for the translation. Les 400 Couverts, and another squat that was very close, “La Kanaille”, have been kicked out one week after we made this interview, on august, 2nd, 2005, with at least 250 cops, who needed about 4 hours to evict everyone from the roofs and other places… Then there was a spontaneous demo into town. This was a moving and angry end… but it’s not finished and there are still squats and many plans in grenoble. [Read More]

No eviction of the Ex-Steffi!

The countdown is running, the city administration persists with their notice of eviction, which can be executed from February 1. on. We recieved the actual eviction lawsuit in January 2004, but we were able to delay the eviction by means of a settlement in court.

We are against the neoliberal insanity of the city Karlsruhe!!! For the preservation of the Ex-Steffi!!!

The city has been trying to sell the premises to the south of the central train station since 1988, but presently there is neither a development plan nor an investor. The city intends to invest 1 million Euros in tearing down our project to make the premises more “attractive”, so that yet more office space and commercial premises that nobody needs can be generated, and this will probably take 20 more years.

Artist’s ateliers are located on the same premises, wich are tolerated up to 3 months before the construction starts. The answer to the question of why we cannot recieve a similiar status is unnecessary.

Because, just like everywhere else, we are hoped to simply disappear- alternative culture, noncommercialism,dissent and criticism of the status quo. For the simple reason that we prove that alternatives work.

We are fucking sick of it! 15 years ago the Steffi/Ex-Steffi developed due to the neccesity for free eftist space, and for 15 years we have been fighting for our right to +exist! Let’s show those in power what they do not want to see! We are reality, our culture and our resistance cannot be forbidden. Participate in our actions with creativity and noise!

>From now on squatters’ breakfast every Sunday at 11 o’clock Sunday, January 8. 14:00 supporters’meeting Saturday,January 28. demonstration against nazi march, and since we’re there +anyways… Wednesday,2/8- Sunday, 2/12 and longer action days Saturday, 2/11 intranational demonstration

more infos at www.exsteffi.de

[squat!net]

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London: Eviction of St-Agnes Place

The eviction of St Agnes Place in Kennington (South London) by Lambeth Council finally took place on Tuesday 29th, after years of court battles and previous eviction attempts [Report]. The oldest squatted street in London was swarmed with hundreds of riot police the whole day, as residents were resisting the bailiffs and specialist climbers that were emptying the street of its 150 strong community set up 30 years ago [Photos 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 and Video]. [Read More]