Squatters and supporters from all over the country gathered on October 24th to protest a new law to ban squatting. The introduction and voting in of this law was the topic of last week’s demonstration in the Hague where 105 people were arrested for conducting a sit down protest. The demonstrators marched the streets of Utrecht with the slogan “Squatting Will Go On”.
This is a reaction to the shortage of affordable housing throughout the Netherlands. Wait lists for social housing can be as long as 10 years in Amsterdam and 6 years in other cities. This is clearly becoming a problem for people with lower income and students who can not afford to wait even close to that amount of time. The parliament decision to illegalize squatting has divided the chiefly agreeable parliament. This issue has also caused a big disagreement among the municipal governments, their councils and local police and federal government. All of the major cities in the Netherlands are against the squatting ban. As it looks like now, it is only a handful of majority policy makers who are enforcing the use of prison sentences against squatters. You can find out more about how squatting works in this article.
Starting even earlier than the scheduled 1pm start time, people crowded the Mariaplaats. Some were holding banners, some dancing but most were conversating and cheering. The atmosphere was positive and the police presence was minimal. More people came towards 2pm. The authorities tried their best to direct traffic through the narrow streets filled with onlookers and press.
Crowd listening to a speech.
- Click on the image to see a full size panoramic view of the beginning of the demonstration.
After a short speech the crowd gathered and slowly moved in a group to march through the city with banners and chants. It was surprising to see the amount of respect the protesters had for parked cars, bicycles and onlookers. The protest moved orderly through the main road, letting pedestrians pass along the sides. Onlookers gazed with excitement. The energy of the protest seemed to turn envelope the little streets as the giant crowd slowly passed.
Speeches were made along the way as the crowd stopped for short breaks.
The numbers of demonstrators was esimated here to be more than a thousand. Some media sources have already estimated that it is around 500 which can be considered on the low side seeing the below photos.
The protest was a peaceful one. There was one isolated incident of a protester being arrested. This created a divide in the path of the protest at a very uncertain time. Everything stopped for a few minutes as people ran along Catharijnrsingel street away from the crowds. Undercover police advanced to use batons to suppress the advancing crowds. Suddenly a police vehicle took off after them at top speed rocking as it scaled the curbs. Demonstrators edged towards the action as they tried to find their direction. Police edged everyone to get back and suddenly used police dogs and batons to get people back. Protesters were well being the police line at this time and the hasty police actions seemed to anger the crowd. People retaliated with throwing cans. Tensions were mounting when a police vehicle unexpectedly cut through the crowd of demonstrators, squeezing its way through hundreds of demonstrators. This was a very untimely provocation by the police considering they had just turned a peaceful protest into a violent one. Luckily both sides did not advance any further and the demonstrators quickly left the scene of the scuffle and walked along the highway. Riot police was dispatched in vein as the demonstration proceeded further. It was clear that neither side wanted a confrontation.
Few demonstrators saying around after dark.
In all, police presence was minimal during the protest and as the crowds marched to their final destination there was no more incidents. The protest marched calmly down to a square where people rested, listened to music and conversed. New connections were being made and the attitude was positive. The crowd started dispersing slowly. A few volunteers were cleaning up the grassy area where people gathered. Some people stayed longer but towards 7pm there was only about 40 people remaining. Taking a walk around the neighborhood proved that there was no police in the area and the demonstration was done for the day.
The law to make squatting illegal has not passed final voting by the Upper House and therefore it still remains to be seen how this complex issue will turn out.
Please post your comments and other articles on this topic. Let us give this issue the attention it deserves.
To see all the photos from the Utrecht Demonstration click here. For den Haag demonstration story click here.
Other News Articles Covering this:
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/protestors-march-against-anti-squatting-law
http://indymedia.nl/nl/2009/10/62627.shtml
http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/artikelen/2009/10/24/241009_krakers.html
http://www.rtvutrecht.nl/nieuws/220225
http://www.blikopnieuws.nl/bericht/104426/Landelijke_krakersactie_rustig_verlopen.html
http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/5129488/__Krakers_betogen_in_Utrecht__.html