They Must Be Krakers

Street battle as massive Amsterdam squat is evicted

18th November 2000

A large community-squat which has been hosting events in Amsterdam since it opened in 1996 has finally been evicted after Dutch police and bailiffs struggled to bypass elaborate barricades in early November.

Kalenderpanden became popular with the people of Amsterdam after hosting a multitude of concerts, galleries and theatre over the last four years. An opinion pole conducted by the city council suggested that 46 per cent of the city's population were against evicting the fifteen squatters who had also provided a café and artist studio space. Plans for the old warehouse building entail the construction of 47 luxury flats. On the weekend prior to the eviction, 2,500 people turned out in the driving rain to demonstrate against the eviction.

A number of supporters helped the squatters build a formidable barricade of scaffolding, paving stones, pallets and burning fires which lent of the street the appearance of a battle zone both during and after the eviction. The group of squatters have already occupied other building's in the city and say they won't be thwarted in their attempt to provide cultural entertainment to those who can least afford it.