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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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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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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Utrecht: Croeselaan squatted. We do not accept temporary rentals!

By: fawda - August 19th, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News

On the 13th of august around 13:00, 4 houses have been squatted on the Croeselaan in Utrecht (Netherlands) where the municipality decided on destroying a lot of houses to make space for a fancy park and an office building. To do this they let around 12 to 13 houses stand empty for months now. While GroenLinks was part of the organisers of the last Woonprotest in Utrecht they also had the deciding vote for destroying these houses. During the housingprotest the houses were occupied and about an hour later housepeace was declared. A big thank you to the people who came out and supported the new squats!

Statement from Croeselaan squatters on Saturday 19 august 2023: We do not accept temporary rentals! [Read More]

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Netherlands: Vogelvrij Newsletter #2

By: duiven - July 8th, 2023  Filed under: News


Vogelvrij brings you a bunch of news from squats all around the Netherlands. There is always space for more news in the newsletter, so mail us your updates or publish them on a open publishing platform such as Indymedia.nl, or send your statements to Squat.net, and announce your events on Radar.squat.net. [Read More]

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Netherlands: what happened in May in some squats

By: duiven - June 2nd, 2023  Filed under: News

Vogelvrij Newsletter #1

Of course these news are not complete, we just collected the different things we heard about and the information we could find. If there is something you would like to see in our next newsletter or if you notice that we got some information wrong, send us an email! [Read More]

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Utrecht: squatted floors on the Oudegracht 106-108 illegally evicted

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

Utrecht (Netherlands) – Late Saturday evening the police nevertheless proceeded with an illegal eviction to protect the interests of the owner Caron Realestate & Management BV.

Earlier in the day, squatters had announced that they had been using the upper floors for several days.
In response, the police responded accordingly, and an officer of justice explained to the owner that a procedure will be initiated, that he could file a complain and have his arguments for a possible urgent case reviewed by the investigation judge.
This is a new procedure to get squatters out of a property faster that went into effect on July 1, 2022. [Read More]

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Utrecht: neccesity breaks law

By: fawda - October 1st, 2022  Filed under: Communique, News

Squatted buildings in central Utrecht to celebrate 12 years of squatting ban

Utrecht (Netherlands) – On October 1, 2022, exactly 12 years after the Squatting and Vacancy Act (Wet Kraken en leegstand) came into effect, the office spaces above the Intersport on Oudegracht 106-108 were squatted. The squatters aim to demonstrate that squatting is still a legitimate option in addressing and combating the housing crisis and homelessness. Although the law is supposed to combat vacancy, vacancy rates have only increased since the squatting ban. At the same time, there is an unprecedented housing crisis, which means that people searching for a house are on waiting lists, miss out on houses because investors outbid them and, when they do manage to get a house, have to work their asses off to pay the rent. This while squatting and the squatting movement have been criminalized and persecuted. [Read More]

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Amsterdam: Waldeck Pyrmontlaan 8 resquatted and a second time evicted

By: fawda - March 7th, 2022  Filed under: Communique, News

On Saturday 5 March, three houses, Waldeck Pyrmontlaan 8 (WP8) in Amsterdam, JC van Hattumweg 3 in Amstelveen, and the Red Door in Utrecht were announced as resquatted. WP8 was evicted a second time the same evening, with 9 arrests. Monday morning, JC van Hattumweg was back in the hands of the owner.
The 9 people arrested at WP8 will be taken to court on Wednesday. The public prosecutor wants their further detention for 14 days and the examining magistrate has to decide whether that’s appropriate. The hearings will not be public and no time is known. Autonomous soli actions are highly appreciated!

Statement from Autonomous Student Struggle – Waldeck Pyrmontlaan resquatted! 5 March 2022

3 days ago, we re-squatted the building on the Waldeck Pyrmontlaan in Amsterdam. Today we announce it publicly. We have been living here again since last Thursday. Today 3 buildings have been re-squatted. We stand in solidarity with our comrades from Elektra Flinta who re-squatted a building in Utrecht and our comrades from the Anarcha Feminist Group Amsterdam who re-squatted the squat in Amstelveen [1]. This action is a response to the evictions done by the police and to create a broader housing struggle. In the past we stated the importance of creating a culture of resistance, today we show that repression will be met with a collective response. For every eviction, new places will be squatted, evictions will be resisted. [Read More]

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Utrecht: Squat on Croeselaan revealed during the Woonprotest demo

By: fawda - November 21st, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

On Friday 19 November, an empty house on the Croeselaan was squatted. The squatters announced this during the Utrecht Housing Protest on Sunday 21 November. The squatting of the house is part of the national housing protest that speaks out against the current housing crisis. The squatters demand immediate action and do not want to wait for the empty promises of political parties and housing corporations.

During the demonstration, the squatters invited the demonstrators on the Jaarbeursplein to come and have coffee and tea at the new squat. The property on the Croeselaan had been vacant for a long time, while the blocks of social housing next to it are scheduled for demolition.

The squatters find it appalling that local political parties advocate the demolition of social housing, while further down the street, properties are unnecessarily empty. At the same time, there is an unprecedented housing crisis, which means that people in need of a house are on waiting lists, miss out on a house because investors outbid them and, if they do manage to get a house, have to work their asses off to pay the rent. [Read More]

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Utrecht: Building on the Archimedeslaan resquatted

By: fawda - October 3rd, 2021  Filed under: Communique, News

On October 1, 2021, exactly 11 years after the Kraken en Leegstand (squatting and vacancy) law came into force, the buildings on the Archimedeslaan 16 were resquatted. The squatters protested against the continuing vacancy of the former student housing. Although the law should prevent vacancy, the vacancy rate has only increased since then. This while squatting and the squatting movement have been criminalized and prosecuted.

The squatters want to show that squatting is still a legitimate option in addressing and fighting the housing crisis and homelessness. Indeed, squatting still serves as an effective tool against speculators and housing corporations who use houses as tools to make a profit. The squatters wonder why, in times of a real housing crisis, the development of houses is delegated to profit-oriented organizations. [Read More]

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Utrecht: save the Reactorweg

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

A squat in the city of Utrecht at Reactorweg in the district of Lage Weide is being threatened with eviction. The reason? The Utrechts Studenten Corps (Utrecht Student Association, USC from here), a Fraternity, wants to throw its 77th annual “lustre” party in the 3 squatted buildings that house 25 people and numerous social, cultural, and political initiatives. To make such an eviction during the COVID-pandemic and a housing crisis in Utrecht, the students are essentially helping the owner evict the 25 squatters, putting them on the streets.
But we still have hope! If we manage to raise sufficient funding we can initiate a higher appeal, in which other judges will revise the case.

The situation

A court ruling last week decided that the people living at the Reactorweg in Utrecht will be evicted to facilitate a week-long party organized by the USC.
The living groups think it is unacceptable that a student party gets precedence over their right to proper and affordable housing. Consequently, the living groups went to court to prevent this from happening. “The people living here are very diverse. Some live here as there are no alternatives, others live here more out of ideological reasons.” In the court case, the squatters emphasized the urgency of the case and said they will be homeless if the eviction continues. “Some have applied for social housing a decade ago and still can’t find proper housing,” one of the defendants explained. [Read More]

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