The Vondelstraat riots (Dutch : Vondelstraatrellen) were violent disturbances on Vondelstraat in Amsterdam, the Netherlands between squatters and the state in March 1980. It also involved the deployment of military tanks on the streets for the first time since World War II, and was one of the most serious disturbances involving squatters in the country.
During the 1970s, squatting became increasingly prevalent in Amsterdam due to the lack of housing and the high number of decayed buildings in the city centre. Many of the squatters occupying land were young adults from the baby boom generation who had trouble finding homes. A previous riot in Amsterdam happened in 1966. Authorities did little to stop them before the events of 1980. [1] Many riots occurred between the squatters and the authorities (overall referred to as Krakersrellen), the biggest being the Nieuwmarkt Riots in 1975.
By the late 1970s the mood changed as politicians and real estate owners called for action against squatters. The mayor of Amsterdam at the time, Wim Polak, decided to start cracking down on squatters. [1]
Vondelstraat is a major street in the centre of Amsterdam and was the location of a large squatting squad that occupied property. On 29 February, the state evicted squatters from a building on the corner of Vondelstraat and Eerste Constantijn Huygensstraat. Amid violent protests from hundreds of squatters, who reoccupied the building and built huge barricades, over a thousand police officers and soldiers were deployed to stop their actions. [1]
The rioters threw objects and petrol bombs, and police responded with tear gas. Street fights continued until 3 March. A tank that was deployed, driven by Major Tom van Erk, managed to demolish the barricades. Calm returned that day. [2]
Fifty police officers were hurt during the events. [1]
Another massive squatting protest happened on 30 April 1980 during the coronation of Queen Beatrix. Other riots, albeit smaller, also happened in August, September and December, as well as in 1981 and 1982. In the late 1980s the squatting movement became less prevalent, particularly after the increase of house building in the city. In 2010, the Dutch parliament voted to ban squatting entirely. [3] [4]
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 who are poor and homeless find empty buildings or land to occupy for housing. It has a long history, broken down by country below.
De Blauwe Aanslag was a squat and self-managed social centre in the Dutch city of The Hague. The oldest part of the building was built in 1886. The large building formerly housed tax offices and was occupied in 1980. When the local council took over the ownership of the building, it was agreed to renovate it in three stages, with the squatters living there. However the plans changed and since 1995 the council decided to widen the roads next to the building; for this reason the squat needed to be demolished. After many efforts to block the demolition with lawsuits, the squatters were evicted by military police on 3 October, 2003.
Eurodusnie Collective was an anarchist collective based in Leiden, the Netherlands. It was established in 1997, in opposition to a summit of the European Council at which the Treaty of Amsterdam was signed. A small school was squatted for the purpose of holding a 'counter summit' as a protest over the official EU summit. From that, a more permanent anarchist project evolved which was of national importance.
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.
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.
Ungdomshuset was the popular name of the building formally named Folkets Hus located on Jagtvej 69 in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, which functioned as an underground scene venue for music and rendezvous point for varying autonomist and leftist groups from 1982 until 2007 when—after prolonged conflict—it was torn down, and later also for its successor, located on Dortheavej 61 in the adjacent Bispebjerg neighbourhood. Due to the ongoing conflict between the Copenhagen Municipality and the activists occupying the premises, the building on Jagtvej was the subject of intense media attention and public debate from the mid-1990s till 2008.
The Battle of Ryesgade was a nine-day series of street fights in mid-September 1986, in the Copenhagen street Ryesgade. It was the most violent event in a long-standing conflict between the Copenhagen City Council and the city's community of squatters. Faced with an ultimatum to leave their illegally occupied housing or face eviction, the squatters instead fortified the streets around their building so strongly that it became a cop-free zone. They took advantage of this lack of control by burning down a building belonging to the Sperry Corporation. For nine days, massed police unsuccessfully attempted to evict the squatters. The civil disorder was of a magnitude never before seen in Denmark. After communicating a manifesto through the media, the defenders finally abandoned the squat and dispersed without being apprehended.
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 including Trainspotting. The squatters were evicted in 1999 and the building was converted into a commercial apartment building.
The Dutch squatting ban refers to the law introduced on 1 October 2010, under which squatting in the Netherlands became de jure illegal. Criminalization had first been proposed in the 1970s, but was opposed by the Council of Churches. In 2006, a new plan was proposed and backed by parties including VVD and PVV. When the new law was introduced, squatters occupied the former head office of the fire brigade and there were riots in Amsterdam and Nijmegen. In 2011, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled that the legally forced end of squatting can only occur after an intervention of a judge. Between October 2010 and December 2014, 529 people were arrested for the act of occupying derelict buildings, in 213 separate incidents as a result of which 39 people were jailed.
In England and Wales, squatting—taking possession of land or an empty house the squatter does not own—occurs 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.
Can Vies is a building located in the Sants neighborhood of Barcelona, built in 1879. It has been squatted since 1997, when a group of youths occupied it and began using it as a self-managed social centre and infoshop. In late May 2014, riots broke out in a successful attempt to stop an eviction. The building was partially demolished and rebuilt by the local community.
The Nieuwmarkt riots, also referred to as the Amsterdam metro riots, were a series of serious disturbances in the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands. On 24 March 1975, which later became known as Blue Monday, and on 8 April 1975, protests against the planned demolition of homes ended in confrontations with over a hundred municipal police supported by 500 military police. The homes were considered by residents and protesters to be in good condition, but had to make way for the construction of the East Line tunnel of the Amsterdam metro. This was needed because the construction of the 3.5 km tunnel was largely done by sinking large concrete caissons. As a result of the riots, the city council of Amsterdam decided to abandon further plans for additional metro lines.
Binz was a factory building squatted as a self-managed social centre in the district of Wiedikon in Zürich, Switzerland, from 2006 until 2013. The squat housed 50 people and provided workspaces for 100. From 2009 onwards, the city council wanted to evict and demolish the project. It was finally evicted in December 2013, resulting in riots.
The Amsterdam coronation riots refers to major violence and rioting in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on the day of the accession of Queen Beatrix, 30 April 1980. It was one of the biggest episodes of such disturbances in the country since the end of World War II and the most significant event of the Dutch squatters' movement (Krakersrellen).
We Are Here is a collective of migrants based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which campaigns for human rights for its members and all undocumented migrants. The asylum seekers have in many cases had their applications to remain in the Netherlands denied but they either cannot go back or refuse to return to their country of origin. They ask for access to social services such as medical care and housing. The group formed in 2012 and by 2015 contained over 200 migrants from around 15 countries.
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.
The battle of Mainzer Straße took place in Friedrichshain, East Berlin between 12 and 14 November 1990. It was a major incident in the history of the city, following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The magistrate of East Berlin decided to evict a row of squatted apartment blocks and the autonomous movement resisted the eviction for three days, until the buildings were all evicted by the police. One person was wounded by a ricochet and 417 people were arrested in an operation of over 3,000 officers. Following the riots, the magistrate decided to concentrate on legalizing squats in Berlin.
The Piersonstraat riots occurred in 1981 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. After the city council decided to demolish a warehouse and houses in the city centre to build a parking garage, local activists and the squatters movemment combined to resist the eviction. This resulted in riots and the events have become part of Dutch history. The parking garage was not built.
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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