Villa Amalia is the name of the building that hosted the former Second High School of Athens in Greece. It is located on the corner of Acharnon and Heiden streets, near Victoria metro station. It was an anarchist squat before its eviction in 2012. It reopened as a school in 2016.
Villa Amalia was occupied since 1990, making it one of the oldest Greek squats. [1]
In its lifetime as a squat, the center organized cultural events such as political debates, film screenings and concerts. The authorities claimed that violent protesters were protected within the villa after anti-austerity demonstrations. [2]
Villa Amalia was evicted in December 2012. [3] The police claimed to have found materials to make 1500 molotov cocktails. [4] The center was one target in a police campaign to evict up to 40 known squats throughout Greece. [5] SYRIZA was critical of the eviction, blaming the government for using it as a distraction from bigger scandals. [4]
150 anarchists attempted to reoccupy the building on January 9, 2013. [6] They temporarily regained possession but were then evicted by the police, with 92 arrests. Protesters gathered with banners pledging solidarity and occupied the offices of Greek social-democratic party DIMAR. The police then raided a nearby squat and in response people blockaded the entrance of a building where Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was supposed to give a talk. [4]
Thousands of people soon took to the streets in support of the arrestees. The crowd, estimated at 8,000 people by the organizers and at 3,000 by the police, marched through central Athens to the law courts. All 92 arrestees were charged with trespassing on public property and then released. [7]
The Mayor of the City of Athens Giorgos Kaminis announced in February 2013 that the building would be transformed back into a school or cultural center. It had been sealed off to prevent reoccupation by anarchists. [8]
It reopened as a high school in September 2016. [9]
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there were one billion slum residents and squatters globally. Squatting occurs worldwide and tends to occur when people find empty buildings or land to occupy for housing. It has a long history, broken down by country below.
St Agnes Place was a squatted street in Kennington, south London, which resisted eviction orders for more than 30 years. When a number of derelict houses were scheduled for demolition to extend Kennington Park in 1969, squatters occupied the properties and a High Court injunction prevented the demolition. The street was run by a housing cooperative until 2005, when Lambeth London Borough Council obtained an eviction order. Demolition was completed in 2007.
rampART was a squatted social centre in the Whitechapel area of east London. It was established in a derelict building in Rampart Street which was previously used as an Islamic school for girls. The centre operated as a private members club providing a space for a wide range of groups to carry out their activities. It was managed by volunteers without any funding and with a strong emphasis on consensus decision making and DIY culture.
Anarchism in Greece traces its roots to ancient Greece but was formed as a political movement during the 19th century. It was in the ancient era that the first libertarian thoughts appeared when philosophers based on rationality questioned the fundamentals of tradition. Modern anarchism in Greece emerged in the 19th century, heavily influenced by the contemporary European classical anarchism. Because of the Bolshevik success in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the rise of the Communist Party, anarchism faded after the first decades of the 20th century. The collapse of the military junta put an end to the monopoly of the political power from the Right, whereas the dissolution of the Soviet Union diminished the allure of the Communist Party of Greece allowing anarchist groups to gain pace in Athens and other cities.
Self-managed social centres in the United Kingdom can be found in squatted, rented, mortgaged and fully owned buildings. These self-managed social centres differ from community centres in that they are self-organised under anti-authoritarian principles and volunteer-run, without any assistance from the state. The largest number have occurred in London from the 1980s onwards, although projects exist in most cities across the UK, linked in a network. Squatted social centres tend to be quickly evicted and therefore some projects deliberately choose a short-term existence, such as A-Spire in Leeds or the Okasional Café in Manchester. Longer term social centres include the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford, the Cowley Club in Brighton and the Sumac Centre in Nottingham, which are co-operatively owned.
London Street Commune was a hippy movement formed during the 1960s. It aimed to highlight concerns about rising levels of homelessness and to house the hundreds of hippies sleeping in parks and derelict buildings in central London.
Exarcheia is a community in central Athens, Greece close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. Exarcheia took its name from a 19th-century businessman named Exarchos who opened a large general store there. Exarcheia is bordered on the east by Kolonaki and is framed by Patission Street, Panepistimiou Street and Alexandras Avenue. Exarcheia is known for being Athens' historical core of radical political and intellectual activism. Exarcheia is often considered the anarchist quarter of Athens, known for its radical democracy.
Dos Blockos was a squat situated at 713 East 9th Street in Alphabet City, Manhattan, New York City. In active use as a squat from 1992 onwards, the six-story building housed up to 60 people at its peak, including Brad Will. The building funded repairs by being a set for movies. The squatters were evicted in 1999 and the building was converted into a commercial apartment building.
In England and Wales, squatting – taking possession of land or an empty house the squatter does not own – is a criminal or civil offence, depending on circumstances. People squat for a variety of reasons which include needing a home, protest, poverty, and recreation. Many squats are residential; some are also opened as social centres. Land may be occupied by New Age travellers or treesitters.
Squat Milada is a First Republic villa located in the Libeň district of Prague. Milada was intended to be demolished in the 1980s and deleted from the cadastre. Therefore it was a house which officially did not exist and it became one of the Czech Republic's best known squats, occupied from 1997 until 2009. It was then reoccupied for a day in 2012. Acting as a self-managed social centre and infoshop hosting concerts and events, Milada was also home to a number of people. Despite various plans for the site, as of 2021, the building was standing derelict.
Athens refugee squats exist since the 2015 spike in the European migrant crisis. Greece has been a destination for migrants seeking refuge on the European continent via the "Balkan Route." Coalitions of solidarity groups and migrants have established squats throughout Athens to house refugees, demonstrating an alternative to solutions offered by the European Union and NGOs. The squats are grouped together in the Coordination of Refugee Squats. Notable projects included 5th School and City Plaza. In late 2019, the New Democracy party declared it would evict all the squats.
Squatting in the Republic of Ireland is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. In the 1960s, the Dublin Housing Action Committee highlighted the housing crisis by squatting buildings. From the 1990s onwards there have been occasional political squats in Cork and Dublin such as Grangegorman, the Barricade Inn, the Bolt Hostel, Connolly Barracks, That Social Centre and James Connolly House.
Vrankrijk is a legalised squat and self-managed social centre on the Spuistraat in central Amsterdam. There is an events space on the ground floor and above it a separate housing group.
Squatting in the Netherlands is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. The modern squatters movement began in the 1960s in the Netherlands. By the 1980s, it had become a powerful anarchist social movement which regularly came into conflict with the state, particularly in Amsterdam with the Vondelstraat and coronation riots.
Ladronka is a homestead situated in a park in Břevnov, Prague 6, in the Czech Republic. Built by Charles IV in 1340, it was bought by an Italian count, then owned by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta before being broken into flats during the communist period. It was then squatted in 1993, becoming an internationally famous anarchist, self-managed social centre. The squatters organised gigs, exhibitions, readings and theatre, before being evicted in 2000 following the anti-globalization protests in Prague. After several years of renovation, Ladronka was re-opened as an activity centre in 2005, serving the surrounding park.
Squatting became a political phenomenon in the Czech Republic after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Squats in Prague included Sochora, Stary Střešovice and Ladronka. Milada was occupied in 1998 and following its final eviction in 2009, there was a lull in squatting actions. In the 2010s a new social movement squatted houses to highlight the number of derelict properties in Prague and the social centre Klinika was founded in 2014.
Kasa de la Muntanya is a squatted former Guardia Civil barracks in Barcelona. It was built in 1909, by Eusebi Güell, abandoned by the police in 1983, and occupied in 1989. It became central to the squatter movement in Barcelona as a self-managed social centre. The Güell family undertook a long legal battle to regain ownership of the building and then started negotiations with the city council about its use. The council announced in 2019, a plan to buy the building and turn it into social housing.
Squatting in Chile is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. From the 1960s onwards, informal settlements known as callampas were permitted although there were also evictions such as the massacre of Puerto Montt in 1969. In the 1970s, the government of Salvador Allende encouraged occupations, then following the coup d'état, the military junta repressed squatting. Callampas then became known as campamentos.
The modern political squatting movement began in Hamburg, Germany, when Neue Große Bergstraße 226 was occupied in 1970. Squatters wanted to provide housing for themselves amongst other demands such as preventing buildings from being demolished and finding space for cultural activities. The Hafenstraße buildings were first occupied in 1981 and were finally legalized after a long political struggle in 1995. The still extant Rote Flora self-managed social centre was occupied in 1989. Squatting actions continue into the present; more recent attempts are quickly evicted, although the Gängeviertel buildings were squatted and legalized in the 2010s.
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