London: New Social Space in Hackney

From 195 Mare Street:

Right now we’ve got a great vibe going on, everyone sitting outside listening to chill music; the free shop is on display and we’re cooking up vegan burgers. Lots of people have been coming in to see what we’re up to and grabbing some stuff from the free shop – everything for free, they can’t always believe it.

We’ll be doing the same tomorrow, letting people see that we’re here and that we want to do something positive for the community. So many people are keen to start running their own workshops and start making use of this amazing unused and abandoned space. We can’t wait either.

Join us on Thursday for lots of free food on the BBQ, popcorn, music, bubble show and lots more. We’ll also be having our free shop outside so come and get yourself some freebies.

Earlier on in the day we found 3 men knocking at our door. They told us they were contracted to come on Thursday and knock down the walls of the building, pull out the floor boards and pull out the plaster from the walls.  One guy became the ‘owner’ and said that he was going to knock down the building so he could build luxury apartments. The land registry is yet to be updated with who the new owner is, and if its only just been sold there in no way that they have been granted planning permission to do anything. The building cannot be knocked down or damaged because of this, and there has yet to be an owner who has been willing to invest in restoring this beautiful building.

We’re not sure how they intend on damaging a listed building to build flats without planning permission; there is nothing on the planning register that states any planning works to 195 Mare street at present. While this building is being left to rot away, we intend on making as positive use of this space as possible. Come and join us and make this an amazing space for everyone 

Belgium: Call out for support for forest occupation

 

From Earth First!:

Since the first of Juli we (an action group from the Dutch Earth First!) have occupied a forest in Wilrijk. So far there’s been no great risk of eviction but this is about to change. We expect the chance of eviction will be the greatest from September 12th till September 20th.

Since the first of Juli we (an action group from the Dutch Earth First!) have occupied a forest in Wilrijk, south of Antwerp in Belgium. So far there’s been no great risk of eviction but this is about to change. The legal procedures keeping the owner from being allowed to cut are almost finished.

September 15th till Ocotber 15th are the only weeks they are allowed to cut the forest (this is to ‘protect’ the bats and birds in the forest), so we really need people to come and help us prepare for eviction! Lots of work to be done, both on the ground and in the trees.

We expect the chance of eviction will be the greatest from September 12th till September 20th. So the more people in the forest the better!

adress: fotografielaan 7, wilrijk
train to antwerp central
from rooseveltplaats bus 500 to boom
get off close to the pizzahut (ask busdriver)
walk to the pizzahut, go right, at the end of the road (cows) go right, first left, you’ll see the banners
you can contact us at:  steungroep.groenoord@gmail.com
for more info: http://www.groenoord.be / http://www.facebook.com/steungroep.groenoord
0032485507274

The area has been mapped as a forest since 1771 and is an ecologically very valuable oak forest which is a habitat for lots of birds and endangered bat species. The forest is a so called wrongly zoned forest, it’s been zoned as an industrial area since 2005. Flanders (the dutch speaking part of Belgium) is the second poorest region in Europe when it comes to forests, only 8 % of the land if forest. About a third of those forests are wrongly zoned which means they are often threatened. Most of these forests are cut without anyone ever knowing. So we are not just fighting for this specific forest, we are fighting for a more just forest policy in Flanders.

The owner wants to cut the forest to build an office and storage space, but it is not clear if they have someone to rent it yet. Their old partner ended the contract because the plans were delayed.

There’s heaps of empty office buildings in Flanders. Within a minute’s walk from the forest there’s 4 empty buildings that could be renovated or broken down to make space for a new building. Yet they still want to cut the forest.

Because they have never done proper geological studies there’s big problems with the water in the area. The water can’t go anywhere so part of the forest is often under water, which has killed a lot of the trees. Measures need to be taken to ensure the survival of the forest.

Whenever cutting forests in Flanders, they talk about compensation. Which is bullshit. You can’t just cut a forest here and plant a new one somewhere else.

NO COMPROMISE IN DEFENSE OF MOTHER EARTH 

Help us defend the trees! 

Cardiff: Prison squat resists eviction from High Court bailiffs

From Cardiff Squatters Network:

On Thursday 8^th August, at approximately 10am, High Court bailiffs showed up to join United Welsh representatives, police and contractors booked to secure buildings, in an attempt to evict Rumpoles, Moira Terrace, Cardiff, CF24 0NE (aka: prison squat / 0ne squat). By 12pm, without even attempting to enter, they left the occupiers in possession of the building.

At 9:30am the first few supporters started arriving outside, while some squatters took to the peak of the roof. The outside had been barricaded with furniture, gas bottles, compressed air canisters and a piano, while the inside was  well secured. A ‘Fire 2 the prisons’ banner had also been dropped from the windows the night before, during significant disturbances within Cardiff prison over the road.

Four police officers from Roath arrived warning the resisters that possessions used to barricade would be cleared away by the council, stating ‘Your rubbish makes Roath look poor’, even though the squat is in Adamsdown, but otherwise ignored the situation and promptly left.  At this point neighbouring prisoners began shouting  in support  of the squatters and against the cops.

The rest of the day was spent receiving strong support from, passersby and locals, particularly in the neighbouring Adamscourt, also owned by United Welsh Housing Association. While supporters continued to play piano and eat the skipped bakery goods from the night before.

Prison squat has been lived in for 3 weeks, and has hosted an anti-fascist benefit gig, No Borders film screening, prisoner letter writing, as well as other events. United Welsh plan to demolish the building. This work is to start no sooner than February 2014, in order to build 49 1 to 2 bedroom flats for ‘vulnerable people’, whilst denying the Adamscourt residents access to communal greenland in the process. Attempts from squatters to negotiate with owners have repeatedly failed.

South Wales Echo article – http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/masked-squatters-barricade-themselves-inside-5680263

Cardiff: ACAB take over Canton Police Station

Press release from Antagonistic Collective Against Boredom (ACAB):

In the early hours of Sunday morning, we entered and occupied Canton Police Station. We did not ask for permission, as it is our legal right to do so. Given Cardiff Police abandoned the building over a year ago, kindly leaving twelve different open windows for us to choose our entrance from, permission seemed a bit of a formality anyway.

We squat because we believe that corporations and landlords have no right to hold property empty for their own profit while people less lucky are homeless, that people should not have to sell their freedom to employers or jump through government hoops to put a roof over their heads, and that the police should not be allowed to act as hired muscle for the rich and powerful, consistently ignoring, abusing and outright breaking the law to maintain the interests of the ruling classes.

We are squatting here to show our disgust at the way the police use their power to oppress others for their own ends. Since the murder of Lynette White shone a light on the corruption of Cardiff Police, the people of Cardiff have seen for themselves that the police don’t protect the public only themselves: while innocent people lost years of their lives in prison, the three cops who set them up – to protect the real murderer – walked free, pardoned by the IPCC in a move that made it clear just who the police care about. We squat here to show Cardiff Police not everyone is afraid.

To have a home is a basic right, not a commodity to be exploited as a resource by landlords for money and by the state to keep us in our place. Taking the building we act as individuals in a community we have made for ourselves, showing our defiance of the culture of fear the police maintain, and our will to resist oppression and support ourselves and on another.