Amsterdam: Antifa activists forced Generation Identity fascists to leave “squat”

By: sisulscz - April 23rd, 2018  Filed under: Announcement

Generation Identity fascists claimed to have squatted an apartment next to the “We Are Here” refugee squats in Amsterdam. Squatted or not, the fascists had to leave after antifa activists attacked the fascists in their “squat”.

The Generation Identity claimed that they had squatted a house in the Rudolf Dieselstraat in Amsterdam, Netherlands. But the city council of Ymere in Amsterdam’s Watergraafsmeer district, denied that the house was squatted. The fascists were invited by somebody who has a temporary rent contract to avoid a squatting action.
[Read More]

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Amsterdam: Communique from We Are Here Rudolf Dieselstraat

By: fawda - April 21st, 2018  Filed under: Communique, News

Today, an extreme right-wing organization called Identitair Verzet has taken possession of a house in Rudolf Dieselstraat, simply to provoke. They have announced their intent to do so a few days ago on their website. We are very startled by this and find it completely unacceptable. After all, we are looking for housing and a way to survive, while this group is clearly looking for conflict.

Two weeks ago our banner on the church at the James Wattstraat was set on fire by Peter van Vliet, a member of Identitair Verzet. The next morning Van Vliet came to the Rudolf Dieselstraat to try to burn a banner here again. We called the police to deal with the situation, but they chose not to arrest Van Vliet. Despite evidence that he set the banner on fire, and also while the police caught him on the roof of our office, they wanted to “not let the situation escalate,” and let the arsonist walk away.

Subsequently, a week later, Identitair Verzet returned to the James Wattstraat with a group of people. They climbed on the roof of the church and shouted racist and hateful slogans. Here too the police came down, and here too they did not take any action. They were escorted from the roof and then sent away. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: April 28th, Demonstration Solidarity with Refugees, We Are Here!

By: fawda - April 20th, 2018  Filed under: Communique, News

Saturday April 28th 2018, Demonstration Solidarity with Refugees, We Are Here!
Meeting point 14:00 at Krugerplein (not at James Wattstraat 58)
16:00 arrival at Jonas Daniël Meijerplein.

We Are Here, the refugee collective based in Amsterdam, has been campaigning for years against the inhuman Dutch asylum policy. The refugee asylum policy is not conclusive, which leads to the denial of basic rights of refugees in the Netherlands. Many of them are unable to return to their home country, leaving them in limbo and without a proper roof over their heads or the care they need.

We Are Here is squatting to show the inhumane situation in which they live and to ask for attention for the situation of refugees whose asylum requests have been denied but who can’t be deported. Time and time again We Are Here is being evicted, putting them out on the streets and back into uncertainty again, without any prospect of permanent shelter.

These refugees are not the only people in Amsterdam looking for shelter: there is a crucial situation where many Amsterdam based or born people are unable to find a place to live. Social housing, which is the only affordable option for low to middle income people, is being torn apart as real estate is sold to parties eager to capitalize on gentrification. Meanwhile, the waiting list for houses continues to grow for those who have been in need of housing for a long time. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: We Are Here village in the Rudolf Dieselstraat

By: fawda - April 1st, 2018  Filed under: News

Hello everyone! We would like to inform you that we have today successfully squatted 6 houses in the Rudolf Dieselstraat. We also have good news: after five years and for the first time, we have opened an office at Rudolf Dieselstraat 6. You are welcome at the We Are Here Village, next to Frankendael, under the Ringdijk.
We are also looking for volunteers and home items such as blankets, furniture, mattresses and more.
Ymere, the owner from the whole Rudolf Dieselstraat, has neglected the street for many years and wants now to hand it over to Camelot, a property guardian company. Together with the renters still living there, we are going to make a nice village of the street.
According people living in the neighborhood, the houses would remain in this state until August. This is the perfect moment to make our own village. How are we going to achieve that? Let’s talk about it this afternoon at the squatted church, on the James Wattstraat 58. Come along! [Read More]

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The Hague: IND raids squat in Schilderswijk

By: fawda - March 29th, 2018  Filed under: Communique, News

This morning at 07:10 the police and the IND raided a squat in the Schilderswijk to arrest our friend Ali.

In the early morning the dogs of the police and IND raided the house of our friend Ali because he supposedly does not possess the correct paperwork to remain in the country. About ten cops were ready with battering rams to break open the door, this was not necessary because Ali opened the door himself. He has been brought to the main police station.
According to his lawyer people are being deported back to Iraq since a short time. At this moment it is not clear if the deportation services (Dienst Terugkeer en Vertrek) have planned his deportation. His lawyer is checking on this. An update will be placed when more information is available. It is important to warn people you know from Iraq who do not have a permit to stay in the country about the situation.
We are angry that our friend Ali has been arrested. We are angry at the migrant hunters of the IND and the police. No attack will be left unanswered! [Read More]

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Amsterdam: We Are Here squats a house for a woman and two children

By: fawda - March 23rd, 2018  Filed under: Communique, News

Refugee collective We Are Here has squatted a house at Rudolf Dieselstraat 72 for a woman and two children, together with people who now live under harsh circumstances in the church in the James Wattstraat.
After more than 5 years of fighting for a normal life, we know what it means to live on the street or to continuously move from one place to another. It means that you loose all the time, your life looses sense, you are affected. Six of us have already lost their life. The pressure is rising. A solution has to come now.
The women’s building on the Burgemeester Roëllstraat 70, where 25 women of We Are Here are living since a year and a half, can be evicted by the housing corporation from the 10th of April.
Most political parties have agreed that no building of We Are Here will be evicted as long as they negotiate about the new board. We invite them to work together on a stable place and a real Amsterdam-style solution.
We are here and we need a place to live. [Read More]

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Nantes: New occupation by refugees and their supporters

By: fawda - March 9th, 2018  Filed under: Communique, News

Following the evictions from the Censive building and from the Château du Tertre, that saw more than 150 people thrown out, a new occupation followed the day after at the 9 rue Maurice Sibille. Help us to move in, call for solidarity.

On Thursday march 8th in the morning, the former EPHAD, an empty retirement home, a six story building on rue Maurice Sibille, has been occupied by refugees and their supporters. Around 12:00, riot cops came and pushed away the people gathered in the street, aiming at people with their rubber bullet guns. They tried to break into the building but failed. They used gas through an opening. One person would have been arrested. Some local politicians and unions members were around to show support to the refugees. After several hours of tension, riot cops left, followed by an explosion of joy. People in state of euphoria went in and visited this huge empty building. The space is in good state with water and electricity, perfect to host people in shared rooms, with individual kitchens and toilets, big common spaces, a professional kitchen, etc… [Read More]

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Nantes: University occupied buildings evicted

By: fawda - March 9th, 2018  Filed under: Communique, News

On march 7th, at 7am, a few hundred riot cops evicted refugees occupying the Censive building and the Château du Tertre, at the Nantes university. Around 50 people from Censive and 60 others from the Château were violently kicked out under the smiles from the heads of the university and authorities in charge of the police operation.
The eviction was fast. One person went on the roof to protest. Around 10am, this person was still there. As soon as the eviction alarm was called, people gathered on the parking next to the Château du Tertre.
All belongings were moved out by Demeco, a removing company, who did not want to communicate what they were going to do with the mattresses. The police started to barricade the Château du Tertre from inside to prevent any new occupation.
The Censive occupation took place on November 22nd 2017, after the violent eviction of the former Art School, directly bricked up and still heated on! The Château du Tertre was occupied by students and refugees soon after, on November 26th. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Support with We Are Here against an eviction

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

Solidarity with We Are Here. The residents of the Nienoord 2 (squatted since April 17th 2017) received the police letter announcing their evition: Friday morning 17 November 9:00, their property must be “left empty”. The general meeting of Sunday November 12th has permanently decided: The inhabitants will not leave the house voluntarily. They call all sympathisers of their movement to come in great numbers to their house to support their peaceful resistance. Sympathisers, let us support them and show that we do not accept this degrading policy of deterrence. We are here and we need each other to fight the system that oppresses us all. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Refugee collective We Are Here wins court case and can stay in the Vluchtlumumba till 3 july

By: fawda - May 25th, 2017  Filed under: Communique, News

20170409_Amsterdam_Wij_Zijn_Hier_Vlucht_LumumbaYesterday, the Somali group of We Are Here won the court case against the State of the Netherlands with regard to their stay at Florijn 8-11 in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. The authorities ordered the immediate eviction of the ‘Vluchtlumumba’, which they started to inhabit on 9 April 2017. However, their request to stay until the end of the Ramadan has been granted by the Court of Amsterdam.

The group consists of 20 men who have been in the Netherlands for a long time. Some of them have been here for up to 20 years, without the possibility to go back, or to lead a normal life in The Netherlands. After being evicted from a previous building last year, they were on the street for four months. As many of them have various health problems and as they needed more time to find another place, the group decided not to leave the building as ordered, but demanded to be allowed to stay until 3 July. [Read More]

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Thessaloniki: Call for Solidarity

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

20170523_skg_ThessalonikiLast summer the Squat Orfanotrofio in Thessaloniki was evicted and demolished by the Greek government. One commerade faces repressions now for the squating alone, standing at court for all of us, on the trial on the 31.05.2017. We call for solidarity.

The story begins with the squatting of the Orfanotrofeio in December 2015. Thousands of migrants have been declared illegal overnight and are stuck on Greek territory. Within a months they were also displaced from Idomeni, an massive self-made and to a great extent self-managed settlement near the border with the Rep of Macedonia. They were moved to isolated camps throughout the country, under the surveillance of the army and the NGOs.

Those of us who had been visiting Idomeni frequently during the summer of 2015 had seen a wall being built in front of our eyes, people practically living in the mud, being beaten up by the police, giving birth in offhand tents, burning anything they could find from the ruble for some heat in the freezing cold, being moved around from town to town and from camp to camp, in buses that would just show up and then disappear, being constantly stopped for pointless checks in the middle of nowhere on their way to the border. If when they made it to the border, they were often pushed back to Athens, where many of them fell into the hands of smugglers and even organ harvesting mafias. [Read More]

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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]

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