Amsterdam: Klokkenhof squatters’ stronghold

By: fawda - September 26th, 2024  Filed under: News

September 28, the OCCII is hosting a benefit event to help the Klokkenhof squatters prepare for a court case and other expenses:

Towering over Surinameplein stands the monumental Klokkenhof flat. Originally built in 1962 with the purpose of housing single working women, now its current owner, property investor Vesteda, plans to renovate the building and charge returning renters higher rent, and is continuing the longstanding trend of investors driving low income workers, students and elderly people further out of the city. Where there used to be 144 social housing apartments, there will be very few left after the renovation.

Vesteda has for years been trampling on renters’ rights and creating a lot of uncertainty amongst them. Renters are being asked to find alternative housing in a market that’s in the worst shape it has ever been in, and then return to their homes which will cost them hundreds of euros more to live in. [Read More]

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Rotterdam: Catullusweg stays!

By: fawda - September 1st, 2024  Filed under: News

We are really grateful to everyone that has helped out and stood by us, it truly means a lot!!
On the 22nd of august we got a letter for a speed court case for the eviction of Catullusweg 11.
In the morning of august 23rd we went to court, and we’re happy to announce that we won!!!
Even though we don’t have anything nice to say about the judicial system, we feel a weight taken off our shoulders knowing that in the coming time there won’t be any attempts of eviction by the state and its servants.
Now that this squat has more stability, we will put even more time into setting up a social space including a library, free shop, cinema/theater, community kitchen etc.

This is a callout to gather and organise together. Come by share your ideas and don’t don’t hesitate to join in on the fun! We’re looking forward to your ideas and initiatives. [Read More]

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Utrecht: No Border Camp 2024

By: fawda - August 19th, 2024  Filed under: Communique, News

Update from August 20, 2024:

This morning, No Border Camp 2024 started with the occupation of a terrain in Utrecht (a meadow on the Mercatorlaan (directly opposite P&R Papendorp), next to the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal at the Prins Claus Bridge). Until Sunday, several hundred people from the Netherlands and abroad will gather on this terrain to resist the current migration policy through actions, workshops and culture.
Saturday 24 August, there will be a demonstration, starting at the No Border Camp towards the city centre of Utrecht.
Tomorrow afternoon, from 5 p.m., a noise demonstration against the detention and deportation of refugees will take place from the camp at the Judicial Complex Zeist (Kamp Zeist, Richelleweg 13, Soesterberg), where refugee families with children, among others, are locked up.

Kamp Zeist has been a location for many years where refugees are locked up, awaiting deportation or being thrown back on the streets. The site includes a special prison for families with minor children. This is where children such as the recently in the news Mikael (11 years old) and his mother Gohar, who are at risk of being deported to Armenia, are locked up. “Kamp Zeist has been the target of actions against the inhumane refugee policy for years,” says Sasha, spokesperson for the No Border Camp organization, “and tomorrow we will be there again to support imprisoned people and to make a clear voice for the abolition of borders and for freedom of movement for everyone.”

The No Border Camp targets both the increasingly repressive Dutch migration policy and developments at European level, where militarization of borders, pushbacks and other human rights violations are the order of the day. The new Schoof cabinet is adding plans to lock up more refugees, deport more people, make asylum applications more difficult and severely restrict the right to legal assistance.
MiGreat, the Bond Precaire Woonvormen, SOS Humanity, the Transnational Institute (TNI) and Stop Wapenhandel are among those contributing to the camp with workshops. Connections with climate change, racism and women’s and trans struggles are also on the programme.

Previous No Border Camps were held in Rotterdam (2013 and 2022), Wassenaar (2019) and Groningen (2023). [Read More]

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Rotterdam: former school squatted on Catullusweg 11

By: fawda - August 15th, 2024  Filed under: Communique, News

We are not gone, we are still here! After the many threats and an attempt at eviction by the police, they decided to leave because we were ready to resist the eviction with a lot of people. We are still here the next day, and we are not planning on leaving.

Join us in the struggle against capitalism, the state, and all forms of oppression!
Yesterday, we revealed that we have been living at the unused school on Catullusweg 11.

Aside from being a living space, it will also be a space to gather, meet each other, share and sharpen skills, and host events. It will be a place to learn outside of institutionalised education.
We want to create a space where everybody can feel safe, no matter the colour of your skin, sexual orientation, gender, class, or any such characteristic. Our house and common spaces are vegan, because we are also against the oppression of other species.

This is an invitation to come by and organise! [Read More]

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Utrecht: two buildings squatted after 10 years of vacancy

By: fawda - June 28th, 2024  Filed under: Communique, News

28 June, Utrecht – This morning, a group of squatters announced that they had squatted two houses on the Burgemeester Reigerstraat. The squatters have been in the buildings next to the Wilhelminapark since Wednesday, they said in a statement. Due to the current housing crisis, the group feels justified in reoccupying the vacant houses. According to the squatters, the houses have been empty for more than ten years.

Banners with the slogans “attention, vacancy prevention” and “three times is the right to live” have been hanging on the facades of the buildings since this morning. “Apparently, there have been two attempts to squat these buildings before,” says Sander, spokesperson for the group. “These houses have been empty for so long now and we are in the middle of a gigantic housing crisis. It is therefore inconceivable for us that we will be evicted and put out on the street.” The young group of squatters indicates that they have been looking for a home for a long time. With the campaign, they want to show that squatting can offer a solution to rising house prices and the growing housing shortage. According to the group of squatters, several local residents have already indicated that they support the squatting action. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Squat on Rokin evicted after celebration of one year of Takland

By: fawda - June 16th, 2024  Filed under: Communique, News

Takland is a year older and we celebrate! With resistance in the form of squatting a new building. After a year full of action, discussion, movies and parties, this new addition to the alley will be the revolutionary art of Amsterdam again. The new squatted building (ground floor Rokin 104) on the corner of Taksteeg/Rokin had been vacant for years and has the same owner (Axel P Nielsen BV) as the already squatted Taksteeg 6.

The police didn’t want to hear anything about it, after promising at 19:00 on Friday that they will not evict, they came later in the evening at 23:30 during our festival with 10 riot cops vans, dog brigade, popo on horses and BraTra to show their teeth. An illegal eviction in Amsterdam, which has not happened since the squatting of the Waldeck Pyrmonkade in January 2022. [Read More]

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Wageningen: Community and eco-squat ‘De Achtertuin’ squats a vacant lot

By: fawda - June 14th, 2024  Filed under: News

13 June 2024, Wageningen – Since Tuesday 11 June, Veerweg 121 has been inhabited by the community and eco-squat ‘De Achtertuin’ (The Backyard). The Wageningen group, together with dozens of activists, has squatted this new terrain to argue for a sustainable and socially just living model. This action is a direct response to the ongoing housing crisis, environmental crisis and growing social inequality in the Netherlands.

Squatting is legit

The squatted lot has been vacant for at least 17 years and is currently owned by a property developer. In the latest plans, which have not been approved, a construction project of expensive owner-occupied homes was proposed. To this day, there are still no concrete and accepted plans for the site. The activists therefore consider it justified to establish their right of residence on this vacant lot. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: One Year Takland Vrijstraat

By: fawda - June 6th, 2024  Filed under: Communique, News

June 14, 15 & 16, 2024, TAKLAND 1 YEAR FESTIVAL – TAKLAND 4 EVER https://squ.at/r/9e0a

ONE YEAR (and a bit) TAKLAND WAS FOUNDED AND EXPANDED.
On the 27th of April 2023, the puppet-mayor, puppet-king and a member of puppet-parliament came together in the Taksteeg to come up with a plan to make as much money from the city as possible. The plan was to evict every single person who lives in Amsterdam and to rent it out as air-bnb’s, hotels and nutella shops. However, before the puppet-authorities were even able to open air-bnb, resistance was already popping up right behind them. Taksteeg 8 got squatted and occupied for 6 weeks, housing a freeshop, movie screenings and other political events.
Later the Takland people had to move to the adjacent building, bringing the freeshop and the puppet-people with them. It has now been a year since we lived in this house, and we have expended even more by also occupying the time travelers hotel. Together with Villa Mina we want to celebrate the 1 year mark with a 3 day festival.
Details will be published here as soon as confirmed, but expect great acts, bands, movies, dancing, fun and crazy stuff in general! [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Achter Oosteinde 16 squatted. Opening of the Shadia Abu Ghazaleh campus

By: fawda - May 26th, 2024  Filed under: News

Pro-Palestinian protesters open Shadia Abu Ghazaleh Campus of the People’s Free University. Around 14:45, pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched from the Spui to Achter Oosteinde 14 and opened the Shadia Abu Ghazaleh Campus of the people’s Free university in a squatted building.
Today, on May 25, pro-Palestinian demonstrators began their protest on the Spui at 14:00. This demonstration moved through the streets of Amsterdam to Achter Oosteinde 16, where the protesters revealed that a squatted building is being opened to the public as the first campus of the People’s Free University. The Shadia Abu Ghazaleh Campus will be a space of resistance where people can learn from each other and teach each other. The campus is named after one of the first Palestinian women to participate in armed resistance in 1967: “She knew the importance of knowledge and education in the struggle for liberation. […] We will create this space in her legacy,” the protesters say. [Read More]

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Utrecht: Biltstraat 31 squatted and evicted

By: fawda - May 12th, 2024  Filed under: News

This year’s demo Rave voor de Rafelranden took place on 11 May. The building on the Biltstraat was squatted for the demo. The same night, the police evicted the squat and arrested 5 people.

On Saturday afternoon it was announced that the building at Biltstraat 31 in Utrecht has been squatted. The old hotel has been vacant since 2020 and is waiting for new permits that have been refused by the municipality. The squatters have chosen to announce the action today, as they drew attention to the frayed edges of the city today by means of a street rave through the center. With this action, the squatters would like to add a cultural space to the city. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Building squatted for Housing Day. Gravenstraat 26 resquatted

By: fawda - April 29th, 2024  Filed under: Communique, News

NO HOUSING NO KING

Today, April 27, we come together to celebrate Housing Day (Woningsdag), not Koningsdag (King’s Day). Instead of celebrating the monarchy, we will celebrate the resistance and bravery of everyday people. Kingsday is a day of hypocrisy, where we wear orange plastic crowns to pretend we are a king, while every other day we are struggling to make ends meet. While the royal family bathes in luxury we are struggling to pay for basic necessities like food, energy and housing. Nationalism and the celebrations of the monarchy we see today, work to create false divisions that do not serve us. It draws artificial borders over land and divides us, it breaks the natural tendency of solidarity between people and instead teaches us we should fear one another. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Vossiusstraat 16 under threat – Removal of Russian oligarch Arkady Volozh from the sanctions list

By: fawda - March 13th, 2024  Filed under: Communique, News

The Russian oligarch and founder of Yandex, Arkady Volozh, the owner of the squatted building Vossiusstraat 16, was removed from the European sanctions list on the 12th of March 2024. This is likely to lead to a new court case and the eviction of the squat.

This statement begins with a legal overview of the Vossiusstraat 16 case, and then summarises the changes that led to Volozh’s removal from the sanctions list. Finally, we present reasons why his removal from the list should not have taken place. [Read More]

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