International SQUALL

Weiderdam Development Project

Squall 9, Jan/Feb 1995, pg. 35.

Three hundred squatters are occupying an area of between 30 and 40 acres of semi-woodland and marshland in Bremen, Germany.

Former owners of Weiderdam, previously allotments with orchards, have been bought out by a building company which has planning permission to build flats on the land.

The area is ten minutes cycle ride from the city centre, next door to a huge park. Lots of the plots have small cottages or wooden huts built on them. Many of the squatters are extenants, some elderly, some families. Others are newcomers, activists, and travellers parked up on the site.

Some tenants moved out when the weather started to get very cold but one visitor told Squall that a thriving community, strengthened by the threat of eviction, has been built up. The squatters have already built towers and walkways, Claremont-stylee, and await the first attempts at demolition in February. There have recently been rumours that the construction company has offered the squatters an alternative site.