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updates about the kraakverbod for the rest of the world
kraker - 19.11.2010 19:12
the following timline was and will be posted on indymedias around europe. if anybody has something to add please do so.
A timeline of actions in Amsterdam and elsewhere in the Netherlands during the squatting ban
October 1st
The first day of the squatting ban. Head of the police and a public prosecutor known for his hatred towards squatters are placed under 24-hour surveillance and protection after threatening texts (for example “an accident is just around the corner”) are supposedly painted outside their houses the previous night.
In Amsterdam 1000 people take part in a demonstration against the squatting ban. During the demonstration a house is squatted, and slightly later a riot breaks out when the cops charge the crowd. The police uses tear gas for the first time in years. 2 cops, 3 cop horses and several squatters are injured. One squatter is beaten severely and ends up in hospital with a fractured skull. 11 people get arrested.
Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AmpWee9jtA&feature=youtu.be
Photos: http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2010/10/69874.shtml
October 2nd
Around 600 people demonstrate in Nijmegen against the squatting ban. Confrontations with the police. 13 people get arrested.
Photos: http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2010/10/70033.shtml
October 4th
The house squatted on the 1st of October gets evicted. Massive amounts of riot police, vans and horses present but nobody was found inside the house.
October 5th
Squatters in Ede bring furniture and thus make a living room in the main entrance of a housing corporation in order to raise awareness of housing shortage in the area.
October 7th
A former hospital squatted two weeks earlier is evicted in Bloemendaal. The cops state they evict the building based on the new law making squatting illegal.
In Amsterdam a large office building inhabited only by a few anti-squatters is attacked. Windows of rooms where nobody lives in, and that have posters of the anti-squat agency on them, are thrown in.
October 13th
Five of the eleven people arrested during the riot on the 1st of October are trialled. Four of them get sentenced for public violence. The sentences range from 40 to 80 hours of community service.
October 14th
The inhabitants of two squats take the state to court, challenging evictions under the squatting ban. They argue that evicting under the new law is not in accordance with the European Treaty for Human Rights. The verdict is delivered a few days later; the squatters lose the case.
October 20th
A squat in Tilburg is evicted because the owner, the city of Tilburg, wants to place anti-squatters in the building. The occupants are given half an hour to remove their belongings from the house.
October 30th
A building is squatted in Zaandam.
October 31st
A huge office building is squatted in Utrecht.
November 1st
A small house is squatted in Amsterdam to celebrate the one month anniversary of the squatting ban.
The day-old squat in Utrecht gets evicted. 17 people are arrested in a brutal manner. Two of them refuse to tell the police their identities and will have to wait for their court case, which will take place in the end of November, in jail.
During the night the office of the housing corporation that owns the building gets paint bombed. Several windows are also smashed.
November 3rd
The city of Amsterdam announces the list of houses to be evicted in the first “eviction wave” since the new law. According to the calculations over 100 people would become homeless in one day. The city decides to evict even the houses that have a pending court case to challenge the eviction. The squatters start a fast court procedure.
November 4th
Police station in Amsterdam West gets attacked with molotov's. Unfortunately the station doesn't catch fire.
November 6th
A terrain is squatted in Den Haag. The terrain had been standing empty for seven years, ever since the demolition of a house that was squatted for 23 years. 12 buses of riot police show up and order the occupiers to leave, which they in the end do.
Photos: http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2010/11/70990.shtml
November 7th
Approximately 300 people demonstrate in The Hague against the squatting ban and against housing shortage. The march is forced to start earlier than planned after city and the police announce that demonstrating is not allowed after five o'clock in the afternoon. One person gets arrested on suspicion of sedition, refuses to tell the police his identity and will have to wait in jail for his court case that takes place in mid-November.
November 8th
Verdict from a higher court in The Hague states that evicting houses solely under the new squatting ban is illegal. Most houses planned to be evicted the following day get off the eviction list.
700 people demonstrate in Amsterdam for cultural free spaces.
During the night the office of the political party PvdA, which the current mayor is a member of, gets attacked. Paint bombs are thrown, windows smashed and wooden pallets piled against the door are set on fire.
November 9th
Eviction wave in Amsterdam. Two big blocks of houses get evicted; both had lost a civil court case before the squatting ban. Five people are arrested.
Photos: http://indymedia.nl/nl/2010/11/71104.shtml
During the evictions a quick noise demo takes place inside the city hall. Squatters run around the building chanting slogans, throwing fireworks and making noise.
November 10th
During the night four anti-squat agencies get attacked. Windows are smashed and paint bombs thrown. A letter is left behind: “This is the first course. Are you ready for the whole menu? Do not put anti-squatters in evicted houses. Squatting goes on!”
Windows of Rabobank get smashed as a symbolic action against the evictions.
November 12th
A huge banner is hung on scaffolding in the center of Amsterdam to advertise a demonstration on the following day.
Photos: http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2010/11/71263.shtml
November 13th
Demonstration with the slogan “space for everyone – against the deconstruction policy” gathers around 200 people: squatters, renters and neighbourhood activists.
In reaction to the verdict of the higher court on the 8th of November, the Het Openbaar Ministerie, The Public Prosecution Service, announces that it will try to patch up the holes in the hastily prepared squatting ban. Until there is a new policy for evictions, no squats will be evicted, they say.
November 14th
A house is squatted in Utrecht, from the same owner as the previously evicted house.
A former office of the city district of Amsterdam South, where an antisquatter now lives, gets paint bombed.
more information you can find mainly in dutch under: www.indymedia.nl
and soon in english under: kraakverbod.squat.net
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| Read more about: wonen/kraken | | supplements | | some supplements were deleted from this article, see policy | | | forgot!! | kraker - 19.11.2010 19:41
ofcourse the text is also gonna be spread on indymedias outside of europe. and anyways if anybody feels like translating it into wathever langueage, please do it.
| | z | z - 19.11.2010 20:00
16 nov: the squatter that was kept in custody on suspicion of sedition has been sentenced to 25 days in jail, the maximum penalty.
26 nov: first courtcase against squatters based on the new squatting law will take place on the 26th.
squatters also interrupted a broadcast of 'buitenhof' by putting a banner in front of the window on the 10th floor, and asking questions from the public. i don't recall when this happened.
| | forgotten II | nn - 19.11.2010 20:28
Perhaps it is nice to say somethin about the schijnheilig courtcase because the verdict has consequence for all squatters in european countries (since it is in the EUROPEAN treaty of human rights). This could cause a better situation for squatters in other EU countries. Please put it in so it can be of use for others (and then it is not only a though riot timeline...)
| | squat culture in Holland | nn - 19.11.2010 22:21
Why only such a long queue of (pseudo) violent acts? a paint bomb thrown against anti-squatting housing is not really where they are waiting for in Laforsa or Greece, I guess. Its just a joke for them:)
Maybe a little info about the squatters in NL and the Dutch squatting culture is also interesting for these comrades. Because Holland is different from other places. Excuse me if I am rude, wrong, essentialist or just writing bullshit, but i'll give it a try. Or just a interpretation.
What is interesting to note is that in Holland not many squatters identify with anarchist ideas, or are aware of any. This is no problem at all, because they are still angry and dislike repression in any way. Its just not that many care about any. These ideas are not discussed by the many or at SOK's and LOK's (squatting meetings). Many squatters are just fighting for a law which will provide a roof over their heads. Some notice its a LAW, but many don t care. The respond: its a ROOF, stupid.
Before the new law many of the Dutch squatters were living their life’s in empty houses near rivers or in forests, outside the city and the political war fields of the streets. In the cities there was also no need to fight to keep the house (not much). Many spoke friendly with policemen and owners, made gardens, bicycles and cars, and left the place after they lost their court case against the owner of 'their' house.
Although things seem to change after the squatting ban, also because of the way how this was done by politicians, some seem to realize the situation before was too good to be true. And the outcome is that by now the scene is weak compared by others in Europe who fight repression for ages. Some refer to 'repressive tolerance', were squatting in Holland let to a strictly defined area to practice what we do, without fighting what we stayed for. After years of peace and happiness the movement lost its fists, our libido dried out and now the government wants to kill it forever.
But some think what we had is worth fighting for, and start to become a bit more self aware. Others just quit the scene, become angry, hopeless or irritated. But the good news is: some stayed up and fought back. Some even welcome the new law for it will awaken the passion. It can help to let the movement rise from its ideological ashes, and its physical impotence. From this perspective its a big thing what happened on the 1st of October. Our ideological roots are dried out and we have to redefine ourselves, but at least we fought back.
Let it be a beginning of change for all of us.
| | mmmm | nnnn - 20.11.2010 02:14
Mmmm the text about squatting in one of the last comments is not so strong either. It suggests that it's good that there is repression now, so we can fight back, instead of being happy that there was a good solution to oppose the housing problem and make social centers. Don't forget that squatting was a right that people fought for in the past.
| | More | nn - 20.11.2010 15:25
31st of September a house in Utrecht was squatted.
November 4th A group of squatters in Utrecht disrupted the city council by reading a statement about the eviction on November 1st. They demanded freedom for their comrades and a clear eviction policy.
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