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Berlin Squat Evicted

Anarchist | 03.02.2011 08:37

Berlin commune eviction results in arrests and huge protests

Eviction of Liebig 14 former squat in Friedrichshain takes five hours and 2,500 police to counter protesters

it took German police five hours to evict tenants from one of Berlin's last former squats today after angry residents booby-trapped the house.

There were dozens of arrests after 2,500 police officers were deployed in a huge operation to clear the Liebig 14 commune in the eastern district of Friedrichshain.

The 25 residents had refused to leave after losing a lengthy legal battle that has become a focus point for the anti-gentrification movement in Berlin and other German cities.

Six men and three women were found in the property when the police and bailiffs finally gained entry using axes and sledgehammers to break through barricades of barbed wire, sharpened metal poles and concrete blocks.

Police said they used pepper spray after they were showered with fire extinguisher fluid inside the building. The eviction was delayed after police found a number of baths in the hallway filled with a mysterious liquid with wires poking out.

The baths turned out to be harmless, but the nine residents were arrested, along with 21 protesters outside the house and around the city.


 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/02/berlin-squat-eviction-arrests-liebig-friedrichshain

Anarchist
- e-mail: Stolen from Guardian newsrag

Comments

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l14

04.02.2011 03:32

people who where inside that were arrested have all been released.

things seem to have died down here. still a fair few cops still in the neighborhood of fredrichain making id controlls on anyone who looks "leftwing" or dressed in black.

 http://l14soli.blogsport.de/

thatperson


Arrestee clarification

04.02.2011 10:56

Where the report says "21 people outside the house and around the city" I think that must mean 21 people outside the house. The number we heard at one point was 80 people arrested and I think there may have been more. Many were arrested for "Breach of the Peace of the Country" which translates into English law as "Riot" after the demonstration at 1900hrs Wednesday. Several were released yesterday morning after a night in the cells and others late afternoon after nearly a day inside. We heard others were going to be put in front of a judge to decide if "investigative Detention" was necessary for the remainder and some will have been sent to the prison last night as a decision to release/remand would have had to be made by midnight.

One