UK: Social Centre Bulletin – Manchester Winter Shelter and a Happy New Year

By: sisulscz - December 23rd, 2019  Filed under: Communique

As winter creeps in a handful of locals decided that the councils apathy regarding the homeless simply isn’t acceptable and set about doing something about it. That something is called the “Manchester Winter Shelter“. Their aim is to provide a safe and secure space for the cities homeless from the 18th of December until the end of February.

On the 15th they let word out that they had squatted the old Jobcentre on Clarence road in Longsight and were preparing it to house people. Donations came pouring in and they set to work not only preparing the place for it’s would be residents but heading out onto the streets to help with the regular outreach of Manchester Homeless Group and started to talking to people in need of a roof. They faced a difficult task indeed but were instantly inundated with support from folk from across Manchester as well as with the mutual aid of other Homeless support organisations.
[Read More]

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Madrid: La Emboscada under eviction threat

By: fawda - December 20th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

Friday December 20th
Hello comrades,
We write this communiqué from La Emboscada (Tetuán, Madrid) to inform you that last December 17th a judge ordered our precautionary eviction based on a complaint made by one of the owners of our Anarchist Occupied Space La Emboscada.
According to this report, the eviction can be very close, in less than 20 days. Taking into account this information, we decided to fight with all our capacities to prevent this eviction. So we called for a demonstration in the evening on the day of the eviction, at 8pm, and we are counting on your support. The meeting place will not be published until the last moment, so we encourage you to be attentive. We decided not to remain silent while we see dozens and dozens of eviction processes both in housing and social centers.
We decided not to give up or negotiate with those people who want to defend their private property above all, because we know that private property only seeks the individual benefit of some and we know that the State defends and supports these old class enemies already known.
We know that this case is not an isolated case (we have all the previous facts occurred this last year) but it responds to a normal capitalist functioning and structure. We know that the owner is not the devil who escapes the norm or the common sense accepted by most citizens. So we have decided to approach it as one more conflict to be faced and with all the will and mutual support that is given among all those who understand and are in solidarity with this fight against Capital, laws and State. [Read More]

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Athens : No Pasaran anarchists react to the evictions

By: fawda - December 19th, 2019  Filed under: News

The greek government has gone into war with anarchists and anti authoritarians, following the end of a 15 days ultimatum issued by the Ministry of Public Order, towards the dozens of political and refugee squats across Greece (some of them more than 30 years old), threatening them with violent evictions by the riot police and police special forces, if they did not evacuate within the deadline. The deadline ended on Thursday night on the 5th of December 2019, a political decision by the greek State aiming to agitate and create an “explosive atmosphere”.

Following the first wave of attacks and evictions, mainly against squats housing refugees during the fall, the second wave of attacks has just begun, this time against political squats and social centers. Coinciding with the arrest of antifascists and the proposed judicial acquittal of neonazi leaders in the Golden Dawn trial, the right wing greek government and its self proclaimed socialist Minister of Public Order have proceeded with the eviction of Villa Kouvelou in Marousi on tuesday 17 december, while another three squats (Matrozou 45, Panaitoliou 21 and Arvali 3) have been evicted today 18 december in Koukaki, following a massive police operation, that terrorized a whole neighborhood with police brutality, attacking people living in adjoining houses that were no squats. Brutal images of greek SWAT policemen having their boots on people’s heads on the ground and a mother bound on the floor of her terrace with a hood on her head, reminiscing of Abu Ghraib torture images, have been circulated in the media. [Read More]

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Rotterdam: Call to occupy Tweebosbuurt!

By: fawda - December 19th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

Tweebosbuurt is a neighborhood in the Afrikaanderwijk district, which is mostly inhabited by descendants of migrants from North-Africa, and situated in the South of Rotterdam, nearby the city center. There are four blocks of small buildings surrounding public parks and gardens. This disctrict has been gentrified for years already, mostly due to the highly increasing rent in the rest of Rotterdam which is leading students and white yuppies to settle in, and then to reclaim pacification of one of the last alive neighborhood of the city.

The city council has decided to take this issue seriously. The next step for the gentrification of Afrikaanderwijk is the demolition of the totality of Tweebosbuurt. We’re speaking here about 600 houses and shops, almost 25 000m2. 535 of these are ruled by Vestia, a private social renter which is mandated by the city council of Rotterdam to make this giant “social plan” a reality. Vestia is paid 24M euros only for the eviction itself, not including the price of the demolition and reconstruction.
[Read More]

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Manchester: Winter Shelter

By: sisulscz - December 19th, 2019  Filed under: Communique

In Manchester, a squatted winter shelter has been set up for the Xmas period. Organising on Facebook under the name ‘Manchester Winter Shelter’ the project is now on its second building having lost the first one in court on Tuesday (17th) but that’s not stopping them!
[Read More]

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Brighton: As council seals arches, where do the people go?

By: sisulscz - December 19th, 2019  Filed under: News

On Thursday 12th and Friday 13th several arches and shelters above Madeira Drive, at Black Rock, spaces which had housed a community of people over the summer were sealed off with metal grilles — the question has to be where are those people now? [UPDATE the grilles were taken down again a week later]

This summer I was really shocked by the number of homeless people in Brighton. It was much higher than it used to be. Despite a controversial official survey which said numbers had dropped by half, the evidence from my own eyes was that I saw many more homeless people on my way into town than in previous years. There are also many people living in the parks and on the beach. There have been encampments all over town, for example Hove Lawns. Now it’s getting colder, the camps are disappearing and so are the people. Where have they gone? Each person sleeping rough has their own reasons for doing so, maybe some have chosen to move on because of the weather, but what about the others?
[Read More]

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Athens: Statement by the Koukaki Squat Community

By: fawda - December 19th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

We may have fallen, but we’ve fallen on their heads.

Statement of the squatters and comrades who defended Matrozou 45 and escaped from the MAT, OPKE, and EKAM police forces of repression. While facing a police raid, we were informed to the fate of the other houses in our squatted community.

We immediately barricaded the house and entered conflict with the forces of repression. Furniture, electrical appliances, boilers, paint, fire extinguishers, everything and anything in the house fell upon their heads. They responded by shooting and injuring us with plastic bullets as well as with stun grenades thrown directly into our home. We shouted “Here we live, here is our home, here we will die!”—”Fuck your development and Airbnb.” [Read More]

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Athens: Solidarity call with the Koukaki Squat Community

By: fawda - December 19th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

The state’s spectacular repression made another show this morning with the eviction of three living spaces, squats of housing and struggle, those of the Koukaki Squat Community (*). Armed to the teeth state guards, using all their gadgets, broke down doors, shot tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets into the houses and the bodies of those living inside, in order to “return the buildings to their rightful owners”, in other words, to the desert of private ownership and capitalism. During the operation, they even tortured and arrested neighbours who dared question their all mightiness.

The message carried out by the bastard torturers and murderers, those bodyguards of fat cats and their politicians, was one of sweeping state terrorism against the social body.

The Koukaki squat community 3 years ago, opened up a space that kept growing, for the needs of the struggle for social self organization, against capitalist and state oppression. The community has defended its ground combatively whenever this was called for. This morning’s battle returned a bit of the violence to its institutional beares, proving in deed that the only lost battle is the one not fought for. [Read More]

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Athens: Evictions in Marousi and Koukaki

By: fawda - December 17th, 2019  Filed under: News

Today in the early morning hours, Villa Kouvelos in Marousi (northern part of Athens) was evicted by a strong state anti-terrorist police force.
The empty and dilapidated building was squatted by anarchists in April 2010 and quickly developed into a nationally known social center, providing the district with concerts, lectures, discussions, political events, etc.
The villa has also been the target of attacks by right-wing groups such as the Golden Dawn. In the north of Athens, Villa Kouvelos was an institution and its eviction is a catastrophe for the neighborhood in cultural terms alone, leaving behind – similar to the eviction of the Villa Zografou – a socio-cultural desert. As far as is known, there is also no special reason for the eviction, there are no plans to use the building or sell the land. The eviction is therefore a purely populist act. [Read More]

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Finland: New squat Kattila under threat of eviction

By: fawda - December 15th, 2019  Filed under: Communique, News

A small, cozy wooden house was squatted on 13 December in kivihaka, Helsinki, Finland on the corner of roads Hämeenlinnanväylä (E12) and Hakamäentie.

We all need space to live and be in. Space to sleep, cook, meet each other, perform mutual projects, study and develop ourselves, organize events, create new and to have fun. These kinds of spaces are not distributed fairly in hierarchically organized society. When some let their “owned” buildings sit empty, others are without communal spaces or even homes. Besides this, there are numerous places that are not safe if you’re something else than a white cis-hetero male or even open at all for poor people. This feels unfair and pisses us off. Something must be done! [Read More]

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Serbia: Update from Šid

By: sisulscz - December 15th, 2019  Filed under: Communique

In Šid, Serbia, we are currently experiencing the gradual return of migrants after the recent eviction of squats throughout town. Police had forcibly brought people living inside the squats to far away camps close to the Romanian and Bulgarian borders. This resulted in a major set back for them on their way to the EU. However, there also are new faces among those coming to Šid.

During the eviction, many of the guys had their telephones, money and other personal belongings taken away by police. Tents that were sheltering over a hundred people prior to the eviction were destroyed, as well as all the blankets keeping these same people warm at night.
[Read More]

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Bordeaux (France): ‘Living from day to day’ in migrant squats

By: fawda - December 14th, 2019  Filed under: News

As the western French city of Bordeaux struggles to accommodate its growing migrant population, more and more squats have popped up to keep the city’s legal and illegal migrants off the streets. However, since the region appointed Fabienne Buccio as its prefect, an aggressive evacuation campaign has been set in motion; with over 70 squats having been shut down in the past 6 months alone.

Like most children her age, eight-year-old Samar loves the extracurricular activities that are held on Wednesdays. “Today we painted, and we were even allowed to paint on the wall [of the squat]!,” she exclaims in impeccable French before one of her mates interrupts her for a play fight. “He annoys me a lot, but what is good here is that we’re allowed to disagree,” Samar says and points to the little boy who goes on to pull a face and then bursts out laughing. “There’s respect, but above all there’s no war like in my country,” she says [Read More]

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