Last Thursday there were clashes with the police in Connewitz, initially around Eisenbahnstraße and the following days. Thursday’s events are directly related to the Day X+1 demonstration following the Luwi71 eviction. We also understand the subsequent fighting in Connewitz as a solidarity reaction to this and other occupations. Therefore we would like to contribute a few lines to the debate about so-called politically motivated violence in Leipzig.
As a direct action, we peacefully occupied the house at Ludwigstraße 71 for one and a half weeks. Within a few days, the Luwi71 became a meeting place in the neighborhood. Discussions about housing and self-managed open spaces became a topic of conversation again across different political spectrum.
Right from the start, we showed the city and the owner that we were ready to negotiate, we worked out possible uses and offered talks. We were pleased that representatives of public authorities and political parties were prepared to talk to us, to express solidarity with our concerns or to voice serious criticism. [Read More]
Leipzig: Violence is part of the problem – and the problem is the system
Berlin: International Call for Action and Discussion Days
International Call for Action and Discussion Days in Berlin 30.10.-01.11.2020
International Demo in Berlin 31.10.2020
UNITED WE FIGHT!
Connect Urban Struggles – Defend Autonomous Spaces
Over the last years we experience a global resurgence of reactionary politics. State and capital, in a constant process of intensifying exploitation and expanding repression, used the global capitalist crisis, which started a decade ago, as a chance to further restructure relations of power in their advantage. Their political answer is materialized in a shift to the right, with a political alliance of neoliberal economic policies coupled with strong nationalistic narratives and repressive policies against resistance and progressive movements. The new face of authoritarianism has unleashed an all out attack against individuals it considers unnecessary or those that choose to resist and collectivize against the ruin of their lives. In our current period, states the world over used measures against Covid-19 to extend repression, policing and surveillance against societies. At the same time, the failings of neoliberal healthcare systems have led to masses of deaths and increasing inequality due to access to healthcare. [Read More]
Leipzig: Who sows wind, will reap storm
We look back on a long weekend full of determined action against the increasing evictions, against the gentrification and the unbearable cop siege of our neighbourhoods. After two occupied houses had been evicted within a very short time, the anger about social grievances in Leipzig came to a climax once again.
After the squatted house Luwi71 was evicted on Wednesday, a Day X+1 demonstration was called on Thursday. Several hundred people joined the demonstration and expressed their anger at the eviction of the future social center near Eisenbahnstraße. Cops were attacked, barricades were erected and set on fire. Clashes lasted for several hours, during which even a resquat attempt of the Luwi71 was started. The cops tried again and again to disperse the masses, but instead many smaller demonstrations were formed, which drove the clashes forward. Many spectators joined the masses that were repeatedly scattered and yet found each other again. The anger at the police siege and criminalization of Eisenbahnstrasse, including the no weapons zone, was clearly palpable. In the course of the clashes and after several failed attempts by the cops, they began to shoot at random tear gas into the crowd. The fact that here as well as in the following evening ammunition forbidden according the War Weapon Act was used, which was fired also at journalists, probably surprises nobody knowing the Saxonian police. [Read More]
Berlin: Demo KØPI & Wagenplatz bleibt
Whoever buys Køpi, buys troubles!
Køpi and Wagenplatz have been under threat on numerous occasions and recently the Wagenplatz received some news that has reminded us just how at risk we are. We are also aware that we are not the only place currently endangered.
The list of evicted projects will continue to grow if we don’t continue to fight back. With the very recent eviction of Syndikat, a space not only vital for our community but a beloved neighborhood fixture for 35 years, the threat looms larger. None of us are safe from the ugly profiteering of landlords backed up by cops and officials as vicious enforcers of their well-oiled machine. These bullies have and will use any means necessary to silence us. We have been witnesses to and victims of robocops beating down and pepper-spraying unarmed protesters with increasing violence.
In the last year alone, these are the projects that have either already been evicted or are still fighting against it:
[Read More]
Leipzig: Statement on the demonstration “Uniting Struggles – For a Solidary Neighbourhood!”
In the evening of 5 september, we organized the demonstration “Connecting Fights – For a Solidary Neighbourhood” with the starting point Hildebrandpark in Connewitz.
In our speeches we discussed the processes of evictions in Connewitz and Leipzig. We criticized the new building projects, as they are no longer affordable for many people here and living space is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. As a result, many people who have lived here for years have to leave the neighborhood. Social networks, structures that have grown over the years and circles of friends are destroyed.
We declared our solidarity with the squatters of the last weeks in Leipzig in the Ludwigstrasse 71 and the Bornaische Strasse 34 and read a greeting of the evicted LuWi squatters inside. A speech expressed our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the so-called United States. We expressly join the Free Them All campaign, which demands the release of all prisoners of the George Floyd Rebellion. [Read More]
Caen: as long as there are people on the street, we’ll squat!
Demonstration Saturday, September 5, 2 pm.
Since last June 24th, the Calvados prefecture has evicted nine squats in the Caen agglomeration in which about 360 people lived, the majority of which were families with children. The squats on rue Bayet in Mondeville and rue La Varende in Hérouville-Saint-Clair were evicted during the extended winter truce on July 10 with a state of health emergency. Seven other squats have since been evicted: allée du Bosphore in Caen, route de Caen à Ifs, rue Pasteur in Mondeville, rue Desmoueux, Boulevard Guillou, rue Damozanne and rue de la Grace de dieu in Caen.
The Prefecture’s intention is to place a maximum number of people in CRA (Administrative Detention Center) or to assign them to residence, thus putting them under the permanent threat of expulsion from French territory. The policy of repression put in place by the state is intensifying, two Georgians were recently expelled following a squat eviction.
Currently, around 200 people do not have a permanent accommodation solution, some of them benefit from temporary solidarity, others live in tents or in their cars in undignified conditions. [Read More]
Leipzig: Luwi71 evicted
You can take the Luwi from us, but not our dreams
Yesterday on september 2nd the Luwi71 was evicted. At about six o’clock in the morning, cops started trying to enter the house. Thanks to strong barricades, this was not possible with the battering ram. Only chainsaws gave the state authorities access. After about three hours the police announced the end of the operation on Twitter. So the Luwi was empty again and dreams of non-commercial open spaces and cheap housing lay in ruins like the entrance door.
Thanks to the solidarity and vigilance of local residents and a dedicated surveillance system monitoring the movement of the cops in the neighbourhood, the people in the house were all able to flee from the police in time. Nevertheless, four people were picked up near the house and their identities were established. Three people were then temporarily taken to the Dimitroff guard. Two people on suspicion of trespassing. They are therefore accused of having been squatters. The third person because of an open arrest warrant, which is due to an unpaid fine for incorrectly affixing a dog tax stamp. After the money was paid, the third person could leave.
The other two were also able to leave the station around half past ten, but not before DNA was taken from them and their ears measured.
It has been shown that profits and capital are more important than the needs of city dwellers. Private property as the highest value of this system has won once again. Once again the state is unable to provide housing for all people. The needs of the people are secondary in this system. [Read More]
Angers: a look back at the demonstration in support of the Grande Ourse and the court case
On Tuesday 1st September, the Grande Ourse squat and its inhabitants were summoned to the judicial court by the owner, who demanded their immediate eviction. The collective having called for a rally at 1pm in front of the building and a support march, the afternoon was busy and lively. A quick look back at the mobilisation and the hearing itself.
About a hundred people finally gathered in front of the Grande Ourse. Time for a coffee and the departure was launched by the batukada. All dressed in pink, the percussionists cheerfully lead the march. As soon as the bridge is crossed, the cops lead the small procession. Three vans and a car just for us, the prefecture has spoiled us! The cops, recognising some people, allow themselves unnecessary words and some stupid remarks about their looks. They definitely don’t change… The demonstration then goes through the town centre animated by songs, hastily prepared that very morning (and it shows), drums or slogans about the right to housing. In spite of our small number, we make noise and the passers-by look at us with curiosity. The numerous banners then attract their attention. One can read: “less bourgeois, more roofs; “fuck the mayor and his evictions” or “it’s not the winter truce we want, it’s the truce itself”. [Read More]
Berlin: Syndikat evicted, Day X demonstration
So sorry for our abrupt exit earlier. But the eviction, as foreseeable as it might have been, has taken us all mega hard at the moment of the execution. Hopefully some of you are at Herrfurthplatz right now, for the neighbourhood demonstration after our eviction.
Regardless of that, today is Day X, which means that the angry Sponti of the Interkiezionale will take place at 9pm at Richardplatz. We will evaluate the last few days and get back to you as soon as we have coped with the efforts of the last time.
But tomorrow we will publish all information about our anti-repression structure, because unfortunately the escalation strategy of the cops has led to many arrests and charges. But we deal with it the same way we deal with our fight: together, in solidarity & we don’t leave anybody alone! Independent of us, EA and Gesa support will continue to work until everyone is out. Deep thanks from us to all who do this.
We just want to say thank you after these incredibly intense days & weeks! Thanks to all of you who have supported us in so many ways until this day and made sure that we could experience this day at all. Thanks to all the encouragement, the time, the nerves, the know-how, the capacities and our own integrity. [Read More]
Berlin: Successful demo despite police violence
Press release of the Interkiezionale
Berlin, August 3, 2020
On Saturday august 1st, an angry and powerful demonstration took place under the motto “Get out of the defensive”. The demonstration was directed against the announced evictions of left-wing projects, such as Syndikat, Meuterei, Potse and Liebig34. It also wanted to send a signal against the shift to the right and the increasingly authoritarian state [1]. The demonstration of 3,000 people (count from 20:18) was attacked and dissolved by the police after a quarter of the demonstration route. Later, an angry spontaneous demonstration moved through Prenzlauer Berg, showing that the police could not stop the protests.
The Interkiezionale coalition of threatened projects and supporters considers the demonstration a success. True to the motto “Get out of the defensive”, the active participation of many soldiers made it possible to give the demonstration a resistant expression and not to let the police attacks take away the street. Instead, the demonstration drew attention to places of repression and brought their anger against the everyday structural violence by police and capital to the streets. Places such as the job centre, the SPD office or the luxury new building on Flughafenstraße were targeted. [Read More]
Berlin: Syndikat call out. Get off the defensive!
Demo August 1st – 20 o’clock – Herrfurthplatz, Berlin-Neukölln
Times have been rough not only since the coronavirus. The fascisation of society is progressing. The danger of socialism and the hatred of everything left is evoked like a prayer wheel. The horseshoe theory enjoys great popularity. Under the cloak of totalitarian theories and far from any facts, a constant equation of two supposedly equal extremes against a hallucinated bourgeois “middle” is pursued. This liberal-bourgeois equation of socialism and fascism has a certain tradition in Germany, as does the collaboration of this bourgeois “middle” with fascism in order to take action against socialism, or against everything they perceive as a socialist danger. This is also the case with their anti-feminism, another interface between the “bourgeois-conservative middle” and fascists, which aims to maintain the conservative ideas of their system of rule by maintaining the binary gender order and, to this end, tries to turn back the achievements of feminist movements.
Fascist terror attacks in Hanau and Halle, right-wing networks that organize & arm themselves, armed fascists in the state apparatus that prepare for a civil war, secret service and state involvement in the NSU that are kept under lock and key. This list could easily be extended. The fascist danger is real. [Read More]
Amsterdam: Always Anti-Anti-kraak
Sunday afternoon there was a small action at a former squat in Amsterdam Noord. The squatters are angry, because in the evicted building is now an anti squat workspace. The building, that had been squatted already for 3 times, got evicted last summer. It turns out it got evicted for anti-squat. Below a statement of the squatters:
Today we are here to put the situation surrounding the building in the middle of your neighborhood under attention. The old pizzeria on Statenjachtstraat 598. Probably the recent history of this building is still known to you, but to summarize:
After years of vacancy, last year the building got bought by to rich real estate dealers, Axel Veldboom and Frans Blom. Last summer, the place got resquatted (it was already squatted 2 times before). It was clear for the squatters that there were no short term plans for the building. But the owners did have a plan. A pretty ambitious and unrealistic plan, to build an enormous building in the middle of the neigbourhood.
The state decided to start a procedure to evict the squatters, squatting is forbidden, and the owner claims to have a plan. The squatters decided to fight the state in court, to prevent the eviction. In a court case like this the importance of interests is being weighed against each other by a judge, or at least it should be. On one side the needs of the state for having the place evicted, and on the other side the needs of the squatters, to be able to have a place to live. [Read More]
Radar Online Agenda
