Amsterdam: Valreep getting evicted right now

By: sisulscz - June 17th, 2014  Filed under: News

Live ticker (in Dutch)
SUMMARY:
The Valreep never got the chance to present our plans to the city council and the project developer OCP, even though we have an investor and valid business plan. The Valreep could have survived without subsidy but apparantly has to be replaced for yet another yuppie cafe.

The riot cops needed thirteen hours today to evict social centre Op de Valreep. The bustling, independent neighbourhood initiative has existed for almost three years without any subsidy and with volunteers only. At least 17 people have been arrested. People were locked on top of and in the building in lockons, big barrels filled up with concrete. Update: 12 people have been released!
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Amsterdam: Op De Valreep Defense!

By: pinkxedge - June 17th, 2014  Filed under: News

For three years Op De Valreep has created valuable infrastructure for people living in Amsterdam East and has provided opportunities to build community. Despite campaigns to legalize the space, the city of Amsterdam and the developer OCP are moving to evict the squatted community center.

Supporters of “Op de Valreep” have constructed massive barricades to block the city government and the police from carrying out the eviction.

The eviction is expected to occur on Tuesday, June 17th, 2014

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Amsterdam: Valreep is going to be evicted

By: sisulscz - June 15th, 2014  Filed under: Communique

Dear friends of the Valreep,

The court’s decision 13/6/14 was negative: The Valreep will be evicted. We’re entering this weekend the very very last stage of the Valreep.
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Amsterdam: The Rise and Death of the Just City of Amsterdam

By: fawda - May 12th, 2014  Filed under: essay
op_de_Valreep_Amsterdam_squat

The Story of Op de Valreep, A Squatted Social Centre in Amsterdam Oost

Urban planning was once – perhaps at its best, defined by Patsy Healey as “managing our coexistence in shared spaces.” Planning for co-existence first and foremost requires recognition of differences and antagonisms in the city. Different publics have different interests as well as different amounts of power in society and decision-making processes. The state apparatus, operating within a context of power and inequality, thus adopts persuasive, co-optative, and sometimes repressive measures to respond to all these different vectors of pressure.
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Amsterdam: Joe’s Garage, May news

By: Hlulome - May 6th, 2014  Filed under: News
2014_05_Joes_Garage_poster

Eight weeks to go for the Valreep. Mayor van der Laan was getting too impatient to evict the Valreep, social centre squatted since 24 july 2011. At the end of April, after yet another proposal by the squatters to legalise the building, the eviction letter was delivered not by some random cop but by Leen Schaap himself, the nostalgic police chief, commanding police forces during every eviction in Amsterdam. Schaap did not hesitate to climb the fences to make his way to the Valreep. “How do you feel about this?” dares he to ask while handing the letter. Idealen ontruim niet! (You can’t evict ideals!) announces the Valreep website. [Read More]

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Netherlands: Squatting not dead yet

By: sisulscz - July 16th, 2012  Filed under: News

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]
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Amsterdam: New squat Valreep wins courtcase for opening event

By: liberation - September 10th, 2011  Filed under: News

September 10th, 2011

Valreep is a new squat in Amsterdam East. People there have been working very hard to clean up all the mess inside and make it into a social centre.  The District Council (Local Government) was not amused, and came very often to do “inspections”.  The Valreep people announced their official opening happening, and then the day before the opening the District Council came with the announcement to forbid the happening, otherwise a fine of 25 000 (!) euros would have to be paid.

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