Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Brutal eviction of Squat in Vienna (Spitalgasse 11)

april2008.squat.net | 14.04.2008 21:28 | 2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces | Free Spaces | Repression | Social Struggles | World

During the international action days for squats and autonomous spaces many activities took place in Vienna. After a powerful demonstration on Friday demanding free and autonomous spaces, followed by squatting a new place for the Viennese “Wagenburg”, the second day started with a “Bim Party” during which several tramways were occupied. In the evening dozens of people met to discuss queer-feminist aspects of squatting and their practical implications.

After those already very powerful and motivating two days of action hundreds of people “surprisingly” squatted a building in the city centre of Vienna at Spitalgasse 11. The five-storey building has been empty for many years and is known as object of estate speculation, owned by a real estate company.

Activists entered the building around 8 PM without being noticed by the police who guarded a nearby location that has been subject of several squat actions in the past. After one hour they discovered the “real” squat and showed up at the scene. Since they were not able to elicit the owner of the building they left, announcing to be back at 1 PM the next day.

Immediately after entering the house people started to set up infrastructure and carried loads of material into the building. A kitchen was installed, electricity and water supply were arranged and banners hung out of the windows. Soon a first house plenary started to discuss matters of communication, basic organization, the usage of different rooms and storeys and further strategies. After a few hours more than 200 people joined in several activities (free-cinema, sound systems, live jam-sessions, workshops, cooking, hanging out at the roof top terrace enjoying a marvellous view…).

Until Sunday noon the squatters could peacefully follow their activities. A communiqué has been released, claiming space for free and autonomous centres and housing projects. Early afternoon police started showing up. During the following hours more and more police arrived and announced a coming eviction. Early in the evening an array of almost hundred riot cops, four ambulances, police dogs, two police helicopters and four fire brigade trucks surrounded the building. At this time still 200 activists were around to defend their squat. At 7.30 PM the eviction started, with riot cops moving violently towards the activists starting to encircle them. From the people around one person was brutally arrested. Activists trying to give legal support were violently kicked aside and detained. Media activists were sent away from the scenery.

A group of some 20 people blocked the front door, supported by 50 more activists caught in the circle and about 100 behind the police lines, while inside the house another 50 activists prepared for eviction by barricading doors and windows. Outside the house police started taking people out of the circle one by one to gather their IDs. Dogs were used to scare the detained and also allowed to jump on their backs. The local clown army helped the police by building their own barrier around the circled persons, which was transformed into a playground.
At 9pm all those before the house have been marched off and the storm into the building started. After braking through the barricades activists inside were violently carried outside one by one. It took the cops three hours to find all of the around 50 squatters, some of them while still participating at workshops in the house. Sexist and humiliating announcements followed by unnecessary physical violence by the cops were reported. Around midnight the house was empty, 80 activists gathered for a demonstration in front of the local police station to demand the release of the still detained person. After two hours of loud and massive protest he was finally released.

During the whole night police was seen around the building. Even in the nearby university area cops were patrolling with dogs, taking people’s IDs without reason.

In solidarity with all other squatters for a free and autonomous life…

april2008.squat.net
- Homepage: http://april2008.squat.net:8080/index.php/2008/04/14/vienna-brutal-eviction/#more-377

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech