Squatting News From The Netherlands Re-Re-Re-Squat Of Former Hotel Early Tuesday morning (96.03.05) some 20 ordinary cops evicted a squat at PC Hooftstraat 163. The house was squatted twice before. The first group of squatters started the "Semtex-Bar" in the former hotel. The neighbours were not pleased. They got evicted, but the house remained empty after that. The second group called the house "Kroonkurk" after its owner, Mr. Kroonenberg, who owns over 10 empty hotels in inner- city Amsterdam. Associated with the new name was extensive beer-consumption by the squatters. Reason for their eviction was a renovation plan. But Mr. Kroonenberg did nothing. The third time it was squatted, on February 18th, there was no trace of any actual renovation-work going on. But a quick eviction followed, since Law No. 429sect., which was introduced in Holland in 1995, says no squatting can be tolerated, when a building has been in use in the past year (just some man hanging around for one day is sufficient), and was put in effect by the Justice Department for this occasion. For this kind of eviction they need no court order. There were only two squatters present when the policemen arrived. They decided to leave, what can two do against twenty? The same night 70 or more squatters, complete with ski-hats and baseball-bats, re-re-re-squatted the place (this is the fourth time). Policemen arrived soon. They kept calm, and didn't try to get the squatters out again. Probably they are just going to put this house on the growing list of houses to be evicted, which is now over 10 addresses long. It's going to be a multi-eviction some day in spring, probably. Vrije Keyser Radio More news will follow a.s.a.p. To be expected: excerpts from the Amsterdam Squatters Monthly, March: Eviction of Marchstrasse/Einsteinufer (Berlin) will probably not happen within a year (Berlin squatters plan an international housing-action-wekend in April); Bosch Hotel (Arnhem), squatted for 17 years: eviction will follow, most likely this summer, they lost all judicial procedures, the car of their house-owner vanished in flames, March 3rd. ------ More News - March 19, 1996 Squatted Village "Ruigoord" Takes Its Case To European Court The squatted village Ruigoord, about 10 kilometres west of Amsterdam will take its case to the European Court. This procedure will take at least 2 years. In the late 60's most of the village was abandoned by its original habitants. At that time the City of Amsterdam was planning an expansion of its harbours, preparing the area around the village for building-activity. Most of the empty houses in the villa were squatted. Ruigoord became famous for its new, bohemian, artistic inhabitants and their activities. Because of economic problems the harbour-plans were postponed, but in the past years these plans were revived. Ruigoord is not a part of Amsterdam, but Amsterdam wants the area because it feels it has a right to, using arguments like "fighting unemployment" and "expanding economic activities". In the meanwhile, after so many years, the area around the village has become an example of extinct nature, a refuge for birds and plants. Now, after years of judicial procedures the Dutch Supreme Court (Raad van State) has decided the inhabitants of Ruigoord can take their protest against eviction of their homes and demolition of the village and its surroundings to the European Court. The Ruigoord-squatters had asked whether or not Amsterdam could go ahead planning a harbour (and in the process evicting the village), without looking at the side effects of this megalomaniacal plan (Ruigoord also has to suffer the noise and pollution of Holland's main airport "Schiphol"). The court has decided the squatters could take this matter to the European Court; this European Court to decide whether or not planning a harbour-project this size should include a full investigation on the enviromental effects. European Administration and Justice are not well known for their speed... 17 Year-Old Squat In The City Of Arnhem To Be Evicted In April Hotel Bosch in Arnhem, that's about 25 kilometres from the eastern border, is to be evicted in the second half of April. This former hotel was squatted September 5th 1978 (!). The original owner sort of disappeared (!) and the Bosch Hotel fell in the hands of Holland's biggest insurance company, Nationale Nederlanden. For years (almost) nothing threatening happened, and the Bosch-squatters made a social-cultural centre combined with alternative housing-project out of the hotel, including a concert-hall. The insurance company sold the hotel to Jacob Koos Leutscher in 1991. This Jacob Leutscher is a remarkable man. He calls himself an anarchist, a right-wing one (an extreme right-wing moneymaker, that is). He was sued for selling soda in bottles that would explode if you shook them. A famous TV-presenter was taken to court by Leutscher for making this public. The TV-presenter won, Leutscher's soda "Exota" never re-appeared in stores (great story, no time to explain details). Leutscher also owns several other squatted houses in Holland, most of which he bought after they were squatted. The squatters of Hotel Bosch offered Leutscher to buy their home for HFL 275,000, but he refused because he did not want to bargain "with terrorists like ETA or IRA". Leutscher has become Dutch Squatter's Enemy No 1. The town council of Arnhem tried to stop his renovation plans (which would mean eviction of the squatters), but failed. Most likely eviction will follow in April. Jacob Leutscher lives in Alicante, Spain: Villa Pastoral, Finca Santiago 7, Calle Diana 20 Albufereta, 03016 Alicante, Spain. Waiting For Multi-Eviction Date In Amsterdam Amsterdam squatters are expecting a multi-eviction date soon. More than 10 squatted houses have received eviction notices. The stories of these houses differ a lot, some of these houses are long-time squats, others are "fresh". Their owners are different ones, the judicial backgrounds are different. There's about 200 people living in these squats. Multi-evictions happen once or twice a year, but never before was there a list of squats-to-be-evicted this long. Usually there's only three evictions at a time. Most likely an early spring day will show police-vans, hundreds of riot-police moving through town, squatters choosing one or two houses as spear-heads for their resistance. There are no signals from police or government about exact dates yet (major actions like this they can't keep secret). The list is getting longer all the time. News will follow when a confrontation-date is set. ____________________________________ Vrije Keyser Radio 96.2 FM Amsterdam keyser@xs4all.nl http://www.xs4all.nl/~keyser ------------------------------------