| New year’s days in Turin |
Without money, ohne geld, sans argent… Bella vita fiestas and action in Turin at the ending of the year, as abitude in our city… organized by ASILOSQUAT AND BAROCCHIO SQUAT more info on http://tutto.squat.netsee everybody soon
[squat!net]
– Released on December 3rd 2001
Huilerie Occupée, 15 boulevard Montrichet, 13001 Marseille huilerie [at] altern [dot] org Contact : (33) 0699850352
On Saturday December 2nd, was taking place a public evening (concert) at the Huilerie Occupée with a gathering of the French “Intersquat”, people/collectives involved in the squat scene. The Huilerie Occupée offers a collective space with various activities, squatted since March 2000 because of the lack of housing facilities, and providing workshops (bike, silk screening printing, sound…) and a meeting place (people’s kitchen, screenings, concerts). The place is now threatened of eviction. [Read More]
From our guestbook:
A new wave of squatting has hit Malmö in south of Sweden. An empty factorybuilding was squatted by 5 squatters for about 20 minutes. When the secret police showed up, home made explosives where thrown at them. The squatters left the building the backdoor before the riotcops arrived and closed the entire area. Earlier that week a building was ment to be squatted. [Read More]
On November 4 a group of 30 or so squatters occupied an empty church-owned building (the Trocadero) as part of their campaign to set up squatted social centres in Sydney. Later that evening police and fire brigade broke through the barricades and evicted the squat.
The building had been occupied @ 8am that morning by 30 members of a new squatgroup called SCAN [Social Centre Autonomus Network]. SCAN – who had been meeting and planning the occupation – aimed to transform the building into a squatted social centre with spaces for political organizing, infoshop, cinema, doof/band space, artspace, copwatch, food not bombs kitchen, and Neighbours alerted police soon after the occupation began. Police twice tried unsucessfully to access the building. Later that night, however, the police returned with the fire brigade under the direction of the local conservative church. They used hydraulic cutters and axes to smash through the front doors and enter the building. No-one was arrested in the eviction though church members did try to deliver a sermon to everytone on the importance of private property. [Read More]
| Bialystok/Poland : De Centrum squat still fighting ! |
On October 27th, big police forces attacked the De Centrum squat (in Bialystok, Poland) after small scuffles with police officers outside, when cops tried to enter the building with drawn pistol without any warrant and doors were closed before them. Riot police and special units were deployed and after negotiations didn’t have any success. Fire brigade cutted door and police entered the building, detaining 40 people. One person, stopped near door at the beginning of the whole incident was CS sprayed in face, beaten and handcuffed, later charged with violent resistance and threats to police officer (felony, up to 3 years).
Police first tried to present us as dangerous bandits showing things which they found inside, telling that they found a lot of weapons (actually it was slingshot, a fake gun, one stick, a belt with used ammunition and few bottles with petrol). Our case was on the first pages of newspapers and in TV. Police said that they were attacked by few people with baseball bats and that was the reason for calling reinforcements and breaking the door (also without any warrant). In next day we gave our statement correcting those lies.
Also next day police came again with paper for our eviction and gave us one day to leave. After a meeting we decided to barricade ourself inside and occupy the building. It lasted for three days and owner tried to negotiate few times, atlthoug without any success. Now it seems that he gave up and he will leave the building for us. However we are still in bad financial situation as all police raids (we didn’t really recover from raid on 7th of August) costed us a lot of equipment stolen by police and we have a lot of damages.
In Warsaw local anarchist organized solidarity action, blocking gates to Ministry of Internal Affairs. We are determined to stay in the bulding despite of all attacks from police forces and nazis.
De Centrum-struggle continues !
Contact/infos : soja2 [at] poczta [dot] onet [dot] pl
soja
| Squatted social centre Koivula in Helsinki evicted 15.10.2001 |
After six weeks of occupation, the squatters in Koivula in central Helsinki, Finland, have been evicted. The squat was empty for more than two years before the occupation, and will likely remain so for several more years.
The 21 squatters and a group of 30 or more supporters had started using the space partly as living space, partly offering services to locals and activists – a info-café was operating in the four-story building, as well as meeting spaces and a wood-workshop. Future plans for the building included office spaces, a painter’s studio, film screenings and regular political discussion clubs and other events.
The police, after receiving a request from the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital Group, arrived at 9.30 in the morning on Monday 15.10, hoping to catch the house empty. Despite their earlier promises, the police gave no prior warning of the eviction. In the house at the time were 12 people and a pet rabbit. All were detained by police and interrogated, even though there was no confrontation during the eviction.
In Finland squatting is illegal, there are no squatters’ rights. The squatters are now without a space to call home, and are looking into possibly squatting some other space.
[squat!net]
At the last monday, August 20th 2001, the ROTA (police from Sao Paulo) raided the occupation Anita Garibaldi, in Guarulhos, at an operacion clearely ilegal: the police officers didn’t had any indentification and the number from the police cars was hided. At the time when the raid happen is also ilegal (the police in Brasil can not do a raid during the night). Totally equiped with guns, they beat up the squaters, and arrested one of them, saying that they had a mandate to arrest him – which was a lie. The people from the MTST(homeless workers moviment) that was infured has already press charges against the police, the lawyer from the MTST was able to release the person who was arrested and the OAB(The brazilian lawyers association)will open a process to investigate this police action. But the police had said they will come back. [Read More]
| Apartment Building squatted in Helsinki |
Website: http://squat.net/valtaus
TALONVALTAUS HELSINGISSÄ
1.9.2001 An Apartment Building Occupied in Helsinki
During the afternoon of Saturday, 1.9., a group of approximately 50 people occupied a house in central Helsinki. The house, which is situated in a beautiful park-like mental hospital area between a graveyard and Nokia research center, has been left unused for about two years.
An offer for renting the house for housing of young people was made in December 2000, but it was rejected.
The operation went quite smoothly despite some initial difficulties: a security officer coming raving to throw the occupiers out, some misconceptions with the police officers, and a pointless argument with the authorities about whether the occupiers should give their personal data.
The house seems to be in perfect condition. Three apartments out of about twenty have been opened an are being used for sleeping, dining and other necessary activities. The occupiers are planning on opening the ground floor to be used as a public living room, for example as a café.
When the house was entered, there was already running water and electricity available. These were cut as a symbolic gesture by the representative of the current holder of the house.
The police is having a policy that no people except a named person is allowed to go in, and only food may be brought inside. Even sleeping bags and cigarettes are disallowed. However, this restriction will be very hard to control especially in the nighttime.
If problems with the police would arise, the occupiers may always climb on the roof of the house, from where they’re practically impossible to carry off safely.
The squat will probably be in this state until after weekend, when the negotiations with the authorities will be further continued.
Katto ry (Roof soc.reg.) An association for occupying unused buildings for common use.
Katto ry
Ascii: http://squat.net/ascii
fort van Sjakoo: http://www.xs4all.nl/~sjakoo
Jodenbreestraat 24 on the street
900% rent increase
The internet werkplaats, ASCII, has received, along with their bookshop neighbours, notice of a rent increase of more than 900%. Our landlords, the Woningbedrijf Amsterdam (Housing Corporation Amsterdam), find this to be a “reasonable proposal”. A letter received from them began, “The Housing Corporation Amsterdam wants the rent from their commercial spaces adjusted to the market price level”. This startling rent increase is to start on Sept. 1 and go from f 580. to f 5100. per month.
Reasonable?
Though The Housing Corporation finds this to be a reasonable proposal, ASCII members, the volunteers of the bookshop Fort Van Sjakoo, and the volunteer-run Window to Europe, with whom we share our space, cannot come up with this kind of money. Once this money is demanded, the volunteer-run non-profit organisations sharing this space will be forced to find new premises, and face the loss of these initiatives. Not only can we not pay, we also find the thrust of the Housing Corporation to be unconscionable and excessive, pushing, as they are, more and more non-commercial, idealistic initiatives out of the city centre and towards extinction.
We need support
We beseech you now to support us in our struggle. ASCII started life in a squat on the Herengracht, and moved into the basement of Jodenbreestraat 24 in January 2000, to become the neighbours of the Fort van Sjakoo, and the Window To Europe. We are run entirely by volunteers, and survive in an entirely autonomous way. We supply the people who could not otherwise afford it with free internet access, and we support the activist community with computer access and a space to communicate. We have an online radio news hour once a week, with live streaming and incisive interviews, and every Sunday we have experimental jazz. We also run courses, including the popular Genderchanger Academy, teaching women computer hardware basics. We run popular courses in Linux and basic HTML. We have regular workshops that explain a range of technology related subjects, from PHP programming to monitor hacking. ASCII is also a meeting point for programmers and IT workers with a social conscience, who get together in the spirit of open source and share ideas, start new initiatives to support projects such as indy media, and give support to open source software such as Linux. The internet werkplaats is run entirely on Linux, with one computer running Free BSD, and the chance for volunteers to delve into other open source operating systems. Most of the hardware is recycled and donated. ASCII strives to prove that outdated, no longer fashionable computer hardware is perfect for low-end computer tasks such as internet surfing, and things thrown away by some can be used by others.
History
The Fort van Sjakoo has been at Jodenbreestraat 24 since 1977. The building was squatted 2 years earlier as a protest against its planned demolition to make way for an office building. The squatters made the building liveable and on the ground floor a successful bookshop was started. Thus the squatters’ resistance was successful and the building was saved. In 1989 the city bought the building for next to nothing; the residents and the bookshop became renters. The Housing Corporation was then still a part of the municipality, and they got possession of the building. Since then the company has become privatised. The bookshop supplies people with all sorts of information that they can’t easily find elsewhere. The collection consists of a wide range of left-wing political, social criticism, avant-garde, artistic, rebellious, odd and environmentally friendly books and magazines, often impossible to find else where.
Also housed in Jodenbreestraat 24 is the foundation Window To Europe, created in 1989 with the goal of promoting the cultural consciousness and mutual understanding between people who were for a long time separated by the Iron Curtain. They have through the years concentrated on the traditional musical cultures from the different ethnic groups who live in the former Soviet Union. Lately they’ve added a form of electronic music. In the bookshop is the office from the foundation European Juggling Association, who organizes, among other things, a yearly festival which attracts more than 3000 jugglers.
Alternative Amsterdam?
These four initiatives are all non-commercial, non-profit and vibrantly contribute to the life that makes Amsterdam the unique city that it is. If the Housing Corporation is successful in its push to make more and more money, they will be responsible for the sterilisation of a famously artistic city, a *dumbing down* of a city that prides itself on its creativity and social inclination. The Housing Corporation is not allowed to raise its rent for living space but is legally within its rights to raise the rent for buisnesses to the market level. This thinking comes from the assumption that businesses by default turn a profit. And The Housing Corporation Amsterdam isn’t legally bound to differentiate between rent increases for different types of businesses and organizations. But there are many non-commercial idealistic organisations which are purely altruistic in nature that are being turned out on the street with the gentrification of the city centre.
The commercial space in Jodenbreestraat has recently increased to absurd levels as its level of popularity has increased. For decades the street was full of unpopular ugly buildings, which were falling apart, and construction sites. The last few years the city has been busy with fixing up the street. First they took away the terrible buildings. Then came new buildings and the pavement was redone with fancy stones. The junkies were kicked out of the area, and since recently there is an alcohol ban. The policy of the city hall was successful: tourist attractions like the Holland Experience, big chain stores like Blokker and Albert Heijn wanted to be on the now upscale street. And the price per square metre increased in record time to 10 times higher. As these non-commercial and social organisations are under pressure because of the enormously inflated rent increases, the only way to stop the trend is to have a non-profit rent catagory for social and non-commercial initiatives.
Demand
We, along with our neighbours Het Fort van Sjakoo, the Window To Europe, and the European Juggeling Association, want the Housing Corporation Amsterdam to withdraw their rent increase. Support from the people who believe in what we all do is warmly welcome. We would really appreciate it if our supporters began their own actions in support of us. If you want to know what’s going on you can put yourself on a couple of mailing lists:
sjakoo-announce [at] squat [dot] net ascii-announce [at] squat [dot] net
Please send your opinion about the rent increase to the directors of the Woningbedrijf Amsterdam (Housing Corporation) and send us a copy too.
Woningbedrijf Amsterdam Muntendamstraat 1 1091DR AmsterdamPostbus 94278 1090GG Amsterdam Fax 020-6630829 e-mail: binnenstad [at] woningbedrijf-amsterdam [dot] nl ASCII Jodenbreestraat 24 sous 1011NK Amsterdam e-mail: ascii [at] squat [dot] net http://www.squat.net/ascii
International Bookshop Het Fort van Sjakoo Jodenbreestraat 24 1011NK Amsterdam Telefoon: 020-6258979 Fax: 020-6203570 e-mail: sjakoo [at] xs4all [dot] nl
| Bialystok/Poland – a squat raided by police, then reoccupied by angry squatters |
In the morning of August 7th 2001, De Centrum squat, located in Bialystok (Poland), has been raided by police forces. About 10 plain clothes officers, 1 police car and one anti-drug department car were present. Doors were broken, although two people remaining inside barricaded themselves and this gave us time to call all local medias which arrived immediately.
2 people were detained.
The police searched the place, they had a search warrant.
In the evening, squatters recaptured building raided the morning by the police.
The official explanation for the raid is “seeking stolen items”. Although no stolen items and drugs were found, the police seized huge amounts of squat equipment including a power generator, tape-recorders and tons of other stuff. The whole building was systematically trashed by police : they even poured washing fluid in our drinkable water and stole 2 kilos of onions !
The media coverage was very big, and the next day we organized a press conference, where all the medias could see what the cops had done to our place.
On August 9th, minor scuffles occured in and outside the police station, where squatters tried to get their stolen equipment back.
On the same day, the two people detained during the raid were released without charges.
That’s it, as for now.
Because we lost all our equipment and sustained serious damages, we ask everyone to contribute financially. We are not able to continue our actions right now and the squat will be on auction on the 21st of August.
We want to block it! De Centrum will stay in our hands !
Contact : “soja” <soja2 [at] poczta [dot] onet [dot] pl>
De Centrum squatters
| Bialystok/Poland- De Centrum squat raided by police |
Tue, 7 Aug 2001 10:33:23 +0200
Todays morning De Centrum squat had been raided by police forces. About 10
plain clothes officers, 1 police car and one anti-drug department car had been on place. Door were broken, although two people remaining inside barricaded themselves and this gave us time to call all local media which arrived immediately. 2 people were detained. Right now police is searching the place. The had search warrant. We don’t know what are they planning and situation of detained people as for now is unknown. tomorrow we will try to re-squat our building and do some counteraction. for evening we are preparing press statement about this raid. We are waiting for your solidarity. maybe we will be forced to squat another place so all money etc is needed. It is possible that police seized all our valuable equipment etc. so we will need all possible support. De Centrum squatters — Jest niezly … i liscik napisze OnetKomunikator [ http://ok.onet.pl/instaluj.html]
[squat!net]
“The gate opened constantly, the people got out of the trucks and were beaten up. They had to stand against the wall. Inside, they smashed their heads against the wall. They pied on some of them. A young woman threw up blood while the chef of the GOM (special unit of the department for domestic affairs) watched. They threatened the woman with raping her with their clubs.”
– Italian police officer in an interview with “La Republica”
The violent actions of the police during the G-8 meeting in Genua show that the large protest movements against the politics of the leading industrial nations are in this case being stopped and hindered by violence on the street and torture of arrested individuals if necessary. [Read More]
