ksuwest

It’s a tough job, demolishing houses were people could actually still live in…

It’s been an exciting day in the West… Around midday the neighbourhood cop came by the squatted houses with a colleague and a few guys representing Ymere. They didn’t exactly like the fact that the houses had gotten squatted again, but admitted that Van Boetzelaerstraat 2 II and 20 I had been empty for over a year. They then wanted to go in and check that nobody was using the other floors, and got upset when realizing that the squatters had barricaded the door to the staircase and refused to open it. (more…)

Today we have re-squatted two houses on Van Boetzelaerstraat.

Two appartments in these houses got squatted last year and evicted on the basis of article 429 on the 30th of October – for emptiness. The appartments belong to “Block AB24″, owned by Ymere, and will be demolished in the future. When exactly, nobody seems to know, not even Ymere, as the project has been postponed time and time again.

The renters of the block were forced to move out already quite some time ago, only to be replaced by antisquatters. Now even the antisquatters have moved out and if Ymere will have their way the whole block will remain empty until the demolition will start.

And that’s where we step in! In our eyes it is not a crime to squat a house, no matter how long or short time it has been empty, especially during these times of housing shortage. People need houses to live in. 429 is just a number.

AC*AB 24

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