| info solidarity | nn - 22.08.2010 17:49
@ rozengracht13
tough situation
please send any info you have to the spok, so it can be used by future squatters and maybe there is some more usefull info to be found that you can use!
| | update? | nn - 23.08.2010 13:42
@ rozengracht13
i understood that there was a succesful eviction this morning with police, deurwaarder and bouwvarkens and people arrested?
please update!
| | Yesterday @ Rozengracht 13 | fritz - 24.08.2010 17:43
Yesterday's events at and surrounding Rozengracht 13
----------------------------------------------------
The deurwaarder showed up with some police sometime between 7 and 8am, banged forcefully on the door, and demanded access, while a van from Bruijnstein (who two weeks ago attempted to break the door with a crowbar) was reported driving around the area.
The deurwaarder, an older man with a long pony tail already known for his penchant for cowboy evictions, immediately launched a heavy attack on the door with a variety of powerful electrical tools. After about 10 minutes of sawing, battering and kacking, he managed to get through, and around 10 occupants were forced out.
The police then began using their favorite new weapon -- the ID law. Several of the more inexperienced occupants reached immediately into their pockets with trembling hands and identified themselves.
Cooler voices suggested that whoever wanted to could identify him- or herself at the police station.
Several people refused to show ID and the police started making arrests.
Then the most disappointing part of the incident came: several experienced squatters, despite seeing their fellow occupants getting dragged away, identified themselves, and were allowed to walk away.
Three people were arrested, one of which showed ID at the station and was released. The other two were processed and sat in dagverblijf for several hours. The officers told them that their fellow activists had betrayed them and were already free, but the prisoners dismissed this as a usual police trick.
Unfortunately, they soon realised it was true. The usual humiliation and bullying routine of the police began soon after, calling the prisoners "stupid" and "worthless" in Dutch and attempts at English.
"Moet u Halal or Kosher eten hebben?"
"Vegetarisch, graag".
"Ik heb u niet gevraagd of u vegetarisch wou, [blah blah blah]"
- - -
"Gebruikt u medicijnen?"
"Ik heb een bril in mijn tas."
"Wat moet u er mee?"
" [WTF?] "
"Wat moet u er mee?"
"um . . . hebben?"
[ the prisoner was still not allowed to use his glasses ]
- - -
Agent 1: "What, are you stupid or something? STUPID?! Stupid is as stupid ain't, uhh, stupid ain't, uhh, hoe was het ook al weer?"
Agent 2: "Ik weet niet wat je wil zeggen."
Agent 1: "Nou, laat maar, dat stukje van Forrest Gump, ik zeg gewoon . . . You're STUPID!"
The police began using their second favorite tactic: the threat of foreign detention. The prisoners knew perfectly well that once in foreign detention, the only possibility is to identify yourself (risking deportation), or wait for months.
They swallowed their pride and called for a friend to bring their IDs.
Anyway, if we don't get our shit together and act with some solidarity about the ID issue, you can take your eviction breakfasts, oproepen, and macho posturing in front of the police and stuff them ... It's a gigantic waste of time, energy and money for the people who actually sit in a cell and endure the intimidation, taunting and games from the mercenary army which locks up, processes, and laughs at prisoners.entire time.
And as far as the oproep which was posted over the weekend on the squat list and indymedia is concerned ... what is the point, if the only people who show up are some backpackers, some chain joint-smokers, and some supposedly 'experienced' squatters who reach for their wallets at the first opportunity? It's impossible to avoid feeling quite used and manipulated.
Those of us who know better should, I think, prove with our actions that we do.
- - -
A nice detail: I managed to have a conversation with the officer who most enjoyed making threats of foreign detention, ID law penalties, and so on. I congratuled him that he had won after the prisoners showed their IDs. He said, Now, I wouldn't say I won . . . [What, is he now turning bashful?]
I told him that he and his colleagues could be a little more conscious when carrying out the ID law, because many of us don't show it out of solidarity with "illegal" people, and many of the people they treat so carelessly could end up beind deported to unpleasant places. He seemed to understand that, but said that there was a squat, and people had to leave because the deurwaarder came, and so on, and I said, Hold on, it has nothing to do with the squat: you police use the ID law completely independently as a tactic of intimidation. [What is this, he's acting surprised!]
I said that police often detain people on the street and ask for ID. He said, We're not allowed to do that. I said, Well you do it anyway. He said, I never do that. I said, Well, unfortunately some of your colleagues are not as *conscientious* as you, Sir. He said, We can't ask for ID unless there is suspicion of a crime. I said, Well, that happens all the time, and if you ask what crime you are suspected of, the answer is "not having your ID", which is itself a crime of course. Or, they make one up like "disturbing the peace" or "interrupting the police in their duties".
He said, any officer who does that will get in trouble, and if you begin a complaint war, they won't survive it.
Long story short: they can not arrest a large group of people for not showing ID, with vague bullshit about the ID law and suspicion of various crimes too vague to enumerate.
If they start to harass somebody about ID, tell them they will have to arrest *twenty-five* people for not having ID. Sorry for the rant, I know this is quite obvious to most; but after yesterday, it's clear that some people don't realise this or just don't care.
- Fritz
 E-Mail: misterfish@squat.net | |
