Yesterday, one apartment was evicted by the police on Tweebosbuurt. On their way back, the police stopped in front of one of the squats in the neighborhood and tried to get in. This place is protected by house peace and an ongoing legal procedure.
The inhabitants went outside to talk to the police and ask them to stop. The police refused to give the reason of their presence, and asked for everyone’s ID (some people were even still inside) without legal justifications. Two employees from Vestia were with them, laughing at the situation. Some inhabitants refused this abusive and illegal control. Somebody was arrested. They brought them at Zuidplein Police Station for a few hours, and physically forced them to give fingerprints and took pictures of their face. They got out of the police station 4 hours latter and came home safely.
We though it was going to calm down, but we were wrong. Today, we saw the neighborhood police going back and forth Tweebosstraat controlling people’s ID. One of the inhabitants rang to the door of one of the squat and got arrested almost immediately while he was walking in. Some people went downstairs immediately and asked the police the reason for this arrest. They wouldn’t say. They asked for everyone’s ID again, without any legitimate motive. People insisted to know the reason of the arrest, and they answered “You don’t have anything to do with this kind of people, go home and let us do our job”. Most likely, this was a racist statement because the person that was arrested was obviously not Dutch. They threatened that person of being “removed” of the country. [Read More]
Rotterdam: Two other evictions and 19 new arrests in Tweebosbuurt
Rotterdam: Call to occupy Tweebosbuurt!
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]
Rotterdam (Netherlands): Squatting the Grey City
Squatting the Grey City is a book about the squatters movement in Rotterdam in the Netherlands from the 1970s to the present day.
Rotterdam has a rich and diverse history of squatting. As well as countless houses, many venues and other projects came from the movement. If you know where to look, the city is full of stories. This book will give you one version of this colourful past, from one squat researcher’s perspective. Read about everything from the Aktiekomittee Progastarbeiders to Zines, with loads of pictures and activist analysis in between.
Download pdf /epub.
Rotterdam: Films screened at WORM
The film night at WORM back in May was packed out. As promised, here are the films which were screened. These have all been carefully ripped off the internets and subtitled in english. Much respect to all the original film makers and also to Cineac / Pietje Bell Rotterdam, which was great local community television (lots on youtube!). Unfortunately it lost its funding in 2015.
Kraken gaat door! All films listed below:
Rotterdam (NL): Resistance
In Crooswijk, a district of Rotterdam, a housing corporation (Woonstad Rotterdam) is carrying out wholesale destruction of social housing. They have already demolished a large part of the neighbourhood, and then found that they had no money to rebuild homes, so now half the district is reduced to a huge expanse of sand.
[Read More]
Netherlands: Squatting not dead yet
You might think that squatting in the Netherlands has died a death since criminalisation in 2010. But that’s simply not true!
All over the country unused buildings are still welcoming new inhabitants and things are still happening:
- Whilst things have become tougher in Amsterdam with the new mayor who says a law is a law and must be enforced, squatting continues, with two new places successfully cracked this weekend in the east of the city. You can read the neighbourhood letter of one place, Ringdijk 8, here. It was squatted by a large group and welcomed by neighbours. Earlier in the day, fifty squatters helped to take another building, on Pieter Vlamingstraat 98, which has stood empty for years. [Read More]
Radar Online Agenda
