Amsterdam: Court case Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 302, demonstration

By: fawda - November 30th, 2022  Filed under: News

Thursday 1st December 2022, demonstration, 18:00, Het Monument, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 302.

Right now, we are housing four people. If we are evicted, they are without a home, and the Monument would be left empty yet again. Once again, Slumlord Hagedoorn would get get his eviction, while he leaves property empty all over the country. The past has shown that the authorities tend to side with property against the right to housing. Nevertheless, we’re ready to fight. We demand housing justice and an end to vacancy for financial speculation! Thursday, after our court case, we’re organising a MEGA demo. If we win, we celebrate the Monument. If we don’t, we’ll show that we’re not leaving quietly. Join our demo!!!!! [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Housing justice now! Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 302 squatted

By: fawda - October 23rd, 2022  Filed under: Communique, News

Sunday 23 october, rolling out a giant banner, squatters’ collective Mokum Kraakt announced that it has squatted four days ago Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 302. House peace is set, preventing the police to immediately evict. Here their public statement:

The city is cracking at the seams. The housing crisis is far from over. On top of that the energy and inflation crises are causing daily life as such to be unaffordable. At the same time, real estate investors, landlords and speculators are being pampered while mass tourism and gentrification are wrecking the liveability of the city.

The people of Amsterdam are succumbing under capital’s dead weight. Mokum is succumbing under the lack of space for young people, working people, poor people, refugees and old people. Mokum is succumbing under the stranglehold of the rich and the proprietors and the slow suffocation of alternative culture.

But Mokum fights back. We no longer accept that our city is for the rich only. That the economic and commercial interests of real estate owners are unassailable. That we can no longer give shape to our own city, its culture, the way that we live. And that living space is wasted on vacancy and neglect when most Amsterdammers may soon not be able to afford their flats, their energy or their food. [Read More]

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Wassenaar: Ivicke remains – empty

By: fawda - September 3rd, 2022  Filed under: News

Wassenaar (Netherlands) – The inhabitants of Huize Ívicke on Rust en Vreugdlaan (avenue of rest and joy) in Wassenaar have left. The monumental country house, which they returned to meaningful use in July 2018 after years of vacancy, is once again free as a bird. What will happen to the fairy-tale mansion and the surrounding estate in the coming years, no one knows. If it were up to slum king Ronnie van de Putte, the villa would rather be on fire yesterday than today in order to ultimately make as much profit with the estate as possible.

As friends of this autonomous residential community, which has allowed the abandoned estate to flourish in an impressive way in 4 years, we are very concerned about the future of Ívicke. Although the property – with its many rooms – was built 110 years ago as a residential home, the municipality of Wassenaar has fought tooth and nail to ensure that it may no longer be inhabited by anyone. Now – in accordance with the zoning plan – an office is to be built, but which company and when? Van de Putte seems to be the last one to worry about this question. And that is worrisome, because several of his hovels have already mysteriously gone up in flames. Not for nothing has the municipality now placed fences and cameras around Ívicke. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Film afternoon about housing struggle in Oost

By: fawda - July 17th, 2022  Filed under: News

Film afternoon about housing struggle in Oost at Joe’s Garage from 16:00 till 18:00 on 20 july 2022.

On the basis of footage of residents’ actions by the Squatter Group East (Kraakgroep Oost) and the Tenants’ Association East (Huurdersvereniging Oost), we will discuss many years of resistance against this still ongoing attack on affordable housing.
The program also includes a new film about Frans Ondunk, chairman of the Tenants’ Association East, but also known as the Sheriff of East, who fired at landlords on a daily basis.
Throughout the history of Amsterdam East, the squatting movement and the local tenants’ association have propagated the same message with regularity. The property owners whose properties were squatted were often the same as those of the properties in which tenants were terrorized. [Read More]

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Wassenaar: Ivicktion called off—but for how long?

By: fawda - May 25th, 2022  Filed under: Communique, News

Wassenaar (Netherlands) – On the 24th of May, Ivicke had a second “voorlopige voorziening” (VoVo)* hearing, to request a suspension of eviction until the higher appeal in our case against the municipality, who want to evict us on the grounds that according to the zoning plan our home should be an office.

We already had a first VoVo about this in February. That one we lost, but the judge gave us until the 28th of May before we had to leave. In the meantime, we actually won a civil court case against the owner, because the judge agreed that his plans for Ivicke are nonsense. Our lawyers then managed to get this new hearing because of that change of circumstances.

In the documents they submitted for this case, the municipality revealed that they already had the whole eviction planned for the 31st of May, coordinated with the cops and everything. With the added threat that, if they can’t evict then, the cops wouldn’t have time anymore before September because of the festival season, trying to pressure the judge into a fast ruling. Luckily, the judge started the case by making clear that they can get an eviction on the 31st out of their heads: he needs time for his decision, and he also recognises that we will need time to move if it’s negative. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Mokum Kraakt squats on the Kinkerstraat

By: fawda - March 16th, 2022  Filed under: Communique, News

Statement from Mokum Kraakt on 13 March 2022 after the squatting of Kinkerstraat 304 ground floor.

We are action group Mokum Kraakt. We are a mix of Hotel Mokum, Kinderen van Mokum and other squatters: young and old, experienced and new, but we’re all angry, full of love for Amsterdam and ready to fight for our city. Since 10th of march we are settled on Kinkerstraat, in one of the many empty shops in Amsterdam. Because Amsterdam belongs to its residents, not to big capital. We demand radical change. We demand accessible, livable and affordable housing. We demand a just and free city.

Underneath the clean and smooth streets, the city is collapsing. It’s almost invisible how the foundation of a lively city is beginning to burst under a layer of monoculture. In the cracks that Mokum Squats, spaces for counterculture are forming themselves. Spaces to experiment, to meet and to live. [Read More]

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Wassenaar: Villa Ivicke eviction in 3 months – Let’s use this time well!

By: fawda - March 2nd, 2022  Filed under: Communique, News

Wassenaar (Netherlands) – On Monday, we received the verdict in the interim measure court case against the notorious real estate speculator and owner of Ivicke, Ronnie van de Putte aka the Slum Lord, and the municipality of Wassenaar.

The judge denied our request to postpone our eviction until we’ve had a chance to appeal against the ruling of December’s court case. Despite claiming to recognize our interest in having a roof over our heads, and the lack of urgency of both the owner and the municipality to evict, the judge decided we have to leave Ivicke in 3 months.

This verdict is totally contradictory, and justified with reference to bullshit “theoretical” assumptions about the owner and municipality’s interests and intentions. [Read More]

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Wassenaar: Possible Ivicke Eviction Within Two Weeks

By: fawda - February 16th, 2022  Filed under: Communique, News

Update on the hearing of the Provisional Ruling – 15 February 2022

Wassenaar (Netherlands) – Today, there was a hearing at the Raad van State in The Hague, which will decide the future of Huize Ivicke. The villa in Wassenaar that has been squatted for three and a half years is threatened with eviction because the building is officially designated as an office. In a court case on December 20th, the administrative judge in The Hague decided that vacancy was more appropriate than occupation, to which the residents have filed an appeal. To prevent an eviction before the date of the higher appeal, they have applied for a so-called preliminary injunction. This request was heard today by the Raad van State. The lawsuit is between the residents of Ivicke and the municipality of Wassenaar, with the latter wanting an immediate end of the occupation in violation of the zoning plan.

During the ruling on December 20th, the judge hardly considered the interests of the residents. In administrative law it has long been customary that little attention is paid to interests and results of decisions, but rather to the legal aspects of a case. As a result of the “toeslagenaffaire,” however, the Raad van State realised last year that the concrete consequences of their decisions are also somewhat important. [Read More]

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Wassenaar: Court Orders Our Ivicktion

By: fawda - December 22nd, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Wassenaar (Netherlands) – On Monday Dec 20, Rechtbank Den Haag ruled we must leave Ivicke within six weeks.

We aren’t surprised by this verdict in the owner’s favor, and we won’t just accept it quietly.

The court’s argumentation is that our residency here is in violation of the building’s zoning plan, which designates its use as an office. The judge said he “understands the currently difficult housing market” —does he, really!?—and yet decides to evict for emptiness.

Eviction for emptiness, yes: because there are no concrete plans for Ivicke’s future use. No permits, no costings, no drawings, only Ronnie van de Putte’s word that he wants to use it as an office for his company’s only employee.

This is enough for the judge to claim “ there are no grounds for concluding that the national monument will once again be vacant once the occupants have left.” [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Anarcha-Feminst Group squat building on Sint Willibrodrusstraat

By: fawda - June 5th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

New chapter in the zero tolerance policy towards squatting in Amsterdam. In the evening of friday 4 June 2021, many people are taking part in a squatting action in the Pijp. A house is squatted, banners hanged, slogans chanted, fireworks lighted up, a neighborhood letter handed out. Cops are showing up in big numbers, claiming squatters are caught in the act. They want to evict right away. The big group and neighbors are all together pushed away from the area. Later in the evening, riot cops won’t find anybody inside the squatted house which is ending boarded up by a private company. No arrests are reported.

Statement by the Anarcha-Feminst Group Amsterdam:

Today we squatted Sint Willibrodrusstraat 15 owned by ‘evil corp’ Blackstone. This building has been empty for a long time. today we ended this situation of emptiness and speculation by giving the house back its purpose.

Fuck Blackstone, eat the rich!
Stop speculation, squat the world

We are told that there are not enough houses for everyone, that there are not enough spaces for the refugees and migrants coming here fleeing imperialist wars and economies that have been destroyed by (neo)colonialism. It is unacceptable that the media blame migration for the fact that we all seem to struggle to find a home.There is no problem of a lack of space, there is no “housing crisis”, the only problem is the unequal distribution of wealth. The problem is capitalism. [Read More]

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Berlin: Køpi Weekend of Protest

By: fawda - May 2nd, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Køpi calls for friends and allies from around the world to meet in Berlin on the 15th and 16th of May for a weekend of protest. As Køpiplatz (trailer park) faces the most serious eviction threat to date, Køpi stands united to fight for our homes and families. Køpi has been a DIY project in the heart of Berlin offering living space for people in the house and trailer park for more than 30 years. It also continues to be a home for collectives, events, and creative energy since the day the first door was broken open. We will not give up our way of life for some state backed developers! When the law wants to take our homes away, it’s time to break the law!
The alleged owner of Køpi, Startezia GmbH, is just another example of how our homes and autonomous communities are destroyed by anonymous postbox companies that care only about profit and not about people. Køpiplatz does not face the threat of eviction alone. Other Berlin projects, Potse, Rigaer 94, and Queer Wagenplatz Mollies are also in immediate danger. In the last year alone, crucial left-wing places like Liebig 34, Syndikat, Meuterei, Diesel A, Sabot Garden and G17a have already been evicted. [Read More]

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Dijon: Ransacking at l’Engrenage

By: fawda - April 20th, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

Very early this Tuesday morning, a police force accompanied by an armada of construction machines was deployed to devastate the land on Avenue de Langres that had been occupied for almost a year.
Several bulldozers, excavators, trucks and the DESERTOT company’s manitou were mobilized to try to put an end to the gardens, as well as loggers who were in charge of cutting down the trees.
The municipality deploys the great means. Flowers, blades of grass, everything goes. The will is clear: nothing must remain of what can look like greenery.
This ransacking operation comes at the beginning of spring, whereas for weeks the gardeners had been working to make this place an open and shared place of passage between the residents.

The house located in the middle of the gardens remains protected by a court decision, and will not be evicted today (unless the cops decide to illegally force their way in). It is thanks to the presence of the inhabitants in this house that the alert was given early in the morning. The call relayed by friendly neighbors allowed people to converge in solidarity from the first minutes. They tried to block the construction machines by overtaking the police force that had just been set up. Some people were thus able to reach the house to defend it, while several others climbed on the roof of the house. [Read More]

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