squatter evictions "the snake" spuistraat amsterdam

[Sasha]

one of the oldest squats in amsterdam "the snake", situated across the street from the legalized squatter stronghold "vrankrijk" got evicted today together with many off the other houses in the block that where squatted.

https://www.indymedia.nl/indyfiles/imagecache/cropstrip/raw/slangenpand.jpg

eviction has been a threat for a while, a few days ago the last old timers moved out of the squat after they lost their final courtcase. last night a group of more radical squatters "resquated" the place, tore up the street and erected burning baricades. the cops closed down the street for the whole night but didnt move in until 9 this morning, the whole day they have been busy with trying to emptying the buildings (while cathing a lot of paint and fireworks).

https://www.indymedia.nl/indyfiles/imagecache/cropstrip/raw/Screenshot%20from%202015-03-25%2003%3A50%3A05.png

at the last building (the most heavy baricaded/defended one) the cops managed to rip open a gas main so now they pulled back while the gasworkers try to close of the pipes. seems the city center will be disrupted for a while longer.

http://static2.parool.nl/static/photo/2015/14/6/14/20150325164902/media_xl_2868824.jpg

about 15 people have been arrested so far, there will be a noise solidarity demo this evening.

lost of more vids/pics at the twitterfeed of this journalist; https://twitter.com/Jelledeg

[Sasha]

http://www.nrc.nl/inbeeld/files/2015/03/2503WEBAPP_Tabakspanden8-980x652.jpg

http://www.nrc.nl/inbeeld/files/2015/03/2503WEBAPP_Tabakspanden7-980x563.jpg

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http://www.nrc.nl/inbeeld/files/2015/03/2503WEBAPP_Tabakspanden3-980x654.jpg

http://www.nrc.nl/inbeeld/files/2015/03/2503WEBAPP_Tabakspanden1-980x653.jpg

http://www.nrc.nl/inbeeld/files/2015/03/2503WEBAPP_Tabakspanden4-980x654.jpg

[Palmares]

What is squatting like in the Netherlands these days? It's 100% illegal now... so how much squatting happens now compared to before the law change, and how to evictions and thus resistance compare? When the law changed I heard a little bit about the changes from a Dutch friend I know in Australia, but have been in the dark about it all since.

[Sasha]

on one hand its a lot harder, the community took a big hit. on the other hand there are still some older squats from before the squatting ban that are holding out. also, obviously a lot of crucial buildings (like Vrankrijk in amsterdam) in our structures have been legalized through the years, so not everything is gone, most major cities have at least one and often more legalized places where there is a bar, space for politics etc etc.
also, some legal gains have been made since the ban went into effect, while it is illegal an eviction can only happen after the owner pressed charges and the squatters got their chance to go to court, since the all out ban also did away with the rule that a building had to be one year empty before it could be squatted it actually became easier for the more shortterm, moving from squat to squat, anything to have a roof over your head squatters. obviously it did become far harder to build something up.
also, obviously, there is, as always been, a huge amount of under the radar squating like there is in any country.
if i would have to sum up the situation i would say that from a ritualized, semi-legal practise it became as it is in most places in the world. you can compare it to our druggpolicy, if you would ban the coffeeshops there would still be as much or more weedconsumption, just a little less tourists, a lot more illegal and a lot less visible :lol: