Squatters: squatting will continue, despite the possible ban.
Picture: Ruud Voest.
The warm sun last Saturday drew many people to the city centre of Utrecht. But the crowd was divided; one group came shopping or to enjoy a cold drink on a terrace. Another group, colourful, a bit smelly and less conventional than the first group gathered around the Dom tower to express their opinion. One that’s not shared by the mainstream mob, but has deep roots in Holland’s history: to protect the right of squatting.
The current government looses its patience and presented a proposal to make squatting a crime. These crimes are based upon two grounds. If one occupies a house without the owners’ permission and doesn’t want to leave the house when requested or when one uses threads or devices that can frighten others. Chastisement: a fine of the third category which can be up to €7.400 or four months in jail. These punishments can rise when two ore more persons are involved.
The roots of this right go back into the seventies and eighties when housing shortage was high. Many houses were kept empty to be sold later for more money. A new regulation came: when a building hasn’t been used for more than twelve months and the owner can’t give prove that it will be used in a short term, the squatter has the right to stay. Squatters claim this right by overtaking a building, not owning it.
But opinions are divided nowadays. The use of violence and the way that some of the buildings are being abused leads to disapproval of this idealistic form of living. And not without reason: some of the squatters have problems either personal or with justice, don’t want to work and misuse drugs and alcohol. But don’t think that every squatters house is like that. On the contrary: many fulfil a social function or come up for people with lower income. Good initiatives arise where it’s too expensive if this was done in a rented building. Take the yieldshop, an initiative where people can leave their unwanted goods that still can be used so that others can re-use it. Or squatters restaurant, beautiful food for only three euros. The possibility to express an opinion, to make music, to perform, to exhibit movies that don’t have the financial opportunities for an art house cinema.
So hundreds of squatters and sympathizers from all over Holland gathered that sunny Saturday to conserve this tradition. To give a voice to an ideology that’s still very much alive and used by more people than the Dutch government realises. And of course to enjoy that last beautiful day together.
Sources: wikipedia - kraken (Dutch)
Wetsvoorstel Kraken en leegstand (Dutch)