Bochum: Cops threaten to evict squat on Herner Str. 131

By: fawda - May 23rd, 2017  Filed under: Communique, News, video

squatbodemo_TagX_BochumIn Bochum, Germany there is a growing solidarity with the people who squatted an empty building in the Herner Str 131. Police authorities are not so amused. They threaten to evict the building. Activists ask people to be ready for eviction alerts. A demo is planned and decentral solidarity actions are appreciated.

On the 19th of May a group of people squatted an empty building at the Herner Str 131 in Bochum, Germany. The cops came to the house but did not interfere. Over the weekend there was a lot of contact with neighbours and supporters. The activists organised a barbeque party in their garden and lots of people came to discuss the occupation. Apart from places to live, the squatters want to establish a social center in the building.

The tenanst association in Bochum published a support message, saying that more than 7000 apartments are still empty in the German city. They continued their message by saying that people with low wages have more and more problems to find an affordable place to live and that half of the refugees are still living in refugee shelters (lager). The tenants association concluded their message by saying that they wish the owner and the police will not evict the squatters and instead should talk with the squatters. [Read More]

Tags: , , , , ,

Bochum: New building squatted

By: fawda - May 19th, 2017  Filed under: News

20170519_Hernerstraße_131_BochumParallel to the “reclaim the city!” night dance demo an empty building on the Herner street 131 (Herner Straße) in Bochum, Germany was squatted tonight.

In a statement at Linksunten Indymedia the squatters wrote that they want to establish a social center and living space in the building. The first floor of Herner Street 131 will be used for the social center and the floors above will be used by people to live.

Like many buildings in Bochum, the building was empty for years. At the same time the rents in the city go up and there is almost no space for noncommercial cultural and political projects. With this occupation the squatters resist aginst the capitalist exploitation logic, which only allows buildings to be used when its profitable. Instead of this logic we want to use the building self-organized and orientated to the needs of the people.

Although the cops were at the back of the house, the squatters tweeted at 10:40pm tonight that they don’t think that the cops will evict them tonight. There is a great atmosphere there right now. If people want to support they are welcome to come to Bochum. [Read More]

Tags: , , ,

Denmark: Wave of raids and arrests in Copenhagen

By: fawda - May 18th, 2017  Filed under: Communique, News

arna17mAt 6 am yesterday morning cops raided 10 addresses in Copenhagen, Denmark. One of the buildings that was raided was Bumzen in Baldersgade. 25 persons were arrested and 9 of them are at risk of being placed in pre-trail custody. A report and a statement by the Autonomous Revolutionary Nordic Alliance (ARNA).

With law after law, power and its police are shrinking the boundaries for the types of resistance that is possible. By constantly pressuring those who resist, they limit the possibilities of action, and even the ability to imagine a world without authorities and submission.

The unbreakable bond between thought and action is what characterizes the anti-authoritarian revolutionists. We don’t believe that by submitting to law and power today, a society without power can be achieved tomorrow. That is why our ideas are in continuous interaction with our actions. With the ‘respect-package’ (respektpakken), the politicians are attacking this bond when they claim that one person can be held accountable for the actions of other people because of the ideas, which these people express, and the politicians acknowledge this too. The fact of the matter is that they are right: every anti-authoritarian rebel shares the ideological responsibility for actions of rebellion, and we’re even proud of it! That is why we are in a state of solidarity with those affected by the repression. For us, it is not important whether they are guilty or not. Those which we show solidarity with are the actions of rebellion of which they stand accused. [Read More]

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Manchester’s self-organised homeless challenge Andy Burnham to join them

By: fawda - May 16th, 2017  Filed under: News

201705_Cornerhouse_Cinema_ManchesterOrganisers at squatted former arts space Cornerhouse have called on new Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to go a step further than simple charity donations and engage directly with homeless people in finding solutions to the city’s rough sleeping crisis. Cornerhouse, owned by Network Rail, has been occupied by homeless people and Manchester Activist Network (MAN) since January and successfully saw off an eviction attempt late last month.

Writing in response to Burnham’s recent pledge to give 15% of his pay to homelessness charities and “put words into action” to help the rising street homeless population, MAN said:

This sounds great Andy, however what do (former mayor and new business and economy deputy) Richard Leese, (power player and former Manchester council chief exec) Howard Bernstein and (Manchester city centre tsar) Pat Karney think about this?

From the information we have been provided with it seems that Leese will continue to have the large sway of the Devo (devolutionary budget) mayoral power and you will be pushed out to the outer regions. Maybe this is why Oldham and Rochdale were mooted as potential places for shelters. Will you have any real Mayoral power or is this just a token? [Read More]

Tags: , , ,

Turin: Police storm several occupied spaces and make 6 arrests

By: fawda - May 14th, 2017  Filed under: Communique, News

20170503_Asilo_Occupato_Torino_At 6:30am on 3rd May antiriot police and carabinieri squads coordinated by Digos and ROS, stormed Asilo Occupato, the squats on Corso Giulio Cesare and Borgo Dora and two houses in Turin and Barge; the local media also mentioned raids carried out in Bologna and Cuneo, of which we have no confirmation.

The pretext for this repressive operation, which led to six comrades being arrested, is an alleged scuffle that took place outside Asilo last February at the end of a night event; the charges are kidnapping, aggravated damage and resisting public officials. Antonio from Lecce, Antonio Sardo, Camille, Fabiola, Fran and Giada were taken to the prison of Le Vallette, and there’s mention of an unconfirmed seventh arrest.

In the meantime, as the cops are taking it easy and don’t seem to want to go away in spite of the arrests made, we are calling for the squatters still on the roof to join the gathering on Corso Brescia, corner with via Alessandria. [Read More]

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Barcelona: How solidarity and mutual aid saved Barcelona’s Can Vies Squat for eviction and destruction

By: fawda - May 13th, 2017  Filed under: essay, video

bcn27m_9The Can Vies social centre in Barcelona made headlines around the world when its eviction led to five consecutive nights of rioting in late May 2014. But the social center has a longer history than this.

Can Vies, originally built in 1879 to stock construction materials for the city’s subway, became the headquarters of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT transport union during the 1930s Spanish Revolution. Following Franco’s victory in 1939, the building became the center for a fascist, hierarchal labor union.

In 1997, the building was abandoned by its owners, Barcelona’s transport authority (TMB), and was subsequently squatted by the neighborhood’s youth. Since then, the Centro Social Autogestionado Can Vies has become a well-used and well-loved community space providing a variety of services to the people of Sants, a neighborhood with a strong tradition of cooperatives. [Read More]

Tags: , , ,

Belgrade: Refugees evicted from the squatted warehouses

By: fawda - May 11th, 2017  Filed under: News, video

20170511_eviction_belgrade_8Serbian authorities evicted the barracks behind the main train station of Belgrade today. During the eviction officials of the commissariat sprayed insecticides in the barracks at a time as many refugees were still inside.

The eviction of the barracks behind the main train station started at 07:30am this morning. The ministry of Labor, Social and Veteran Affairs announced the “relocation” of refugees from the barracks on May the 5th. According to Nenad Ivansevic, State Secretary of this Ministry, the plan was to complete the eviction within 20 days. Authorities were misleading reporters by saying that they would not use force to “transfer” the refugees. An eviction is always forced when people don”t leave voluntarily but because of an eviction order.

Yesterday it already became clear that Serbian authorities would evict much faster as Ivansevic said. Several kitchen collectives were told by Serbian authorities to stop providing food to refugees by the weekend and yesterday authorities announced that they will start to demolish the barracks at 07:00am. [Read More]

Tags: , , ,

Squatters of London Action Paper 7

By: sisulscz - May 7th, 2017  Filed under: Announcement, Zine

Squatters of London Action Paper number 7 is out now – pdf

Tags: , , , ,

Turin: Six arrests in latest raid on Asilo Occupato

By: fawda - May 6th, 2017  Filed under: News

20170503_Asilo_Occupato_TorinoHeavily armed officers from the General Investigations and Special Operations Division of Italy (Digos) broke down the front door and invaded the Asilo Occupato (occupied asylum) building in Turin on Wednesday, arresting six activists.

Occupants of the anarchist-run space, located on Via Allesandria, in the neighbourhood of Aurora, resisted for several hours on the roof of the property before the raid. Carabinieri (Italian militarised police) also participated in the repressive operation.

Among the detainees are four Italians (Fabiola De Costanzo,Antonio Pittalis, Antonio Rizzo, and Giada Volpacchio), a Frenchwoman (Camille Casteran) and a Spaniard (Francisco Javier Esteban Tosina), who were detained as a “precautionary measure.”

The arrests are related to a clash with carabinieri guards that took place on February 28th in the vicinity of Asilo. Agents alleged obstruction and damage to a police vehicle as they prepared to carry out the identification of a “suspect” but were stymied by the arrival of 15 people who blocked them from doing so.

Asilo Occupato has been targeted by repressive institutions for months, which have issued several precautionary measures against people who visit it, such as a ban on residing in Turin or preventive detention. In December, eight people were arrested for “not respecting residence prohibitions” imposed on them in a major dawn raid. [Read More]

Tags: , , , , ,

Chania (Crete): Anarcho-syndicalist Initiative Rosinante: “Hands off the occupation Rosa Nera – Solidarity with the social spaces of struggle”

By: fawda - May 1st, 2017  Filed under: Communique, News

rosa_nera_creta_On the occasion of reports that talk about transforming the building where occupation Rosa Nera is in a hotel, the Anarchosindicalists Initiative “Rosinante” has published the following announcement:

In the last week, in newspapers (Eleftheros Press, Kathimerini) and racist web sites belonging to the “New Democracy” appears the Rectorate of the Polytechnic of Crete to offer informal “in secret” auctions buildings of the city to tourism bosses. Among these buildings is the building of the Rosa Nera Occupation. This move is part of the wider attack on social and labor movements – and with the backs of the current government.

The occupation of Rosa Nera, for 13 years, is a working machine of support and organization for important aspects of social and labor movements in Chania. Through a libertarian and anarchist culture that supports the organization on the ground, the political work of occupation offers both a hospitable “home” for social struggles and a critical human potential for most social, labor, environmental and rightful claims in Chania. [Read More]

Tags: , , , ,

Wuppertal: For a District Social- and Refugee Welcome Center at Marienstrasse 41

By: fawda - April 30th, 2017  Filed under: Communique, News

201704_Wuppertal_Marienstrasse_41Solidarity with City Plaza in Athens and all other squats on the planet! Friedel 54 in Berlin will stay! Take the streets for an autonomous May Day!

Today, the 30th of April we did a small action in front of the building at Marien street 41 to create awareness of the many empty buildings at the Ölberg district and the repression against self-organised housing projects. It was an action in front of the building. Still.

In August and September 2014 the Marien Street 41 was squatted twice and immediately evicted again. The protected monument was barricaded with aluminium plates by the former owner to make it more difficult to occupy the building. Until today the city of Wuppertal did nothing against this clear violation of the regulations for protected monuments.

After years of vaccantness the former squatters wanted to create, apart from affordable living-space, a district social- and refugees welcome center in the building. But the police evicted the building only hours after it was squatted. Several people were detained and some people were injured because of police violence at the Ölberg district. [Read More]

Tags: , , ,

Amsterdam: Two houses re-squatted on the Minckelersstraat

By: fawda - April 30th, 2017  Filed under: Communique, News

Two houses were today re-squatted in Jeruzalem (Amsterdam) after being left empty by Rochdale since the eviction of the previous squatters in January.

Today two houses were re-squatted in the neighbourhood of Jeruzalem (Amsterdam). These houses on Minckelersstraat have been left empty by the housing corporation Rochdale since the eviction of the previous squatters at the end of January 2017.

The neighbourhood contains a mix of social and free sector housing, and the entire area is being renovated or demolished and redeveloped. The previous squatters were presented with court documents by Rochdale detailing their plans for the houses which today were re-squatted – they were to be used as modelwoning, to demonstrate to residents what to expect from their renovations. However, this purported use of the properties never materialised, instead they were boarded up and left vacant.

According to Rochdale’s concept plan for the renovations (dated March 2017), modelwoning exist elsewhere in the neighbourhood. Residents of the block concerned had the opportunity to view these in March. In other words, the previous squatters were evicted for no reason other than to leave these houses empty. [Read More]

Tags: , , ,