Political parties support eviction of political centre Vrankrijk (Amsterdam)

Political parties support eviction of political centre Vrankrijk (Amsterdam)

Past tuesday, 27th of march, the mayor of Amsterdam got the political backing to raid Political-cultural Centre Vrankrijk in an attempt to close it down. Vrankrijk is an independent and autonomous squat bar that has existed for 18 years. Since two years the city has been trying to force Vrankrijk to accept legal permits and licences. This means that we would have to accept police checks and control on our activities. This is of course not acceptable for us! The activities that happen in Vrankrijk and the goal of freedom and autonomy cannot function within a situation where such control by the police can and will happen.

Over the past two years it has become more and more clear that the city has not entered in this proces for the safety of visitors of Vrankrijk, but only to gain some kind of control over a radical and independent meeting place for activists and squatters. This became very clear when high ranking police officers threatened the mayor with a lose of confidence of all 6000 policemen in Amsterdam if he would concider an agreement which didn’t involve police controls.

Now the city council has spoken out in support of the mayor and the policeforce, and are calling for a closure of Vrankrijk if we do not tolerate police control. This means that at any moment know a raid by the Amsterdam authorities can take place. They will try to close down Vrankrijk by evicting and then boarding up the place. We can and will re-squat the place immediately. (the building is owned by former squatters who are sympathetic). This means we have the opportunity to continue the fight for this place even after the first, second or third eviction. We do need support from as many people as possible to be able to do this. We call on everyone to resist in any way possible. To put pressure on the city of Amsterdam to stop there attempts to close down this independent and autonomous place.

Stop the eviction!
For autonomy and solidarity

For more information: http://www.vrankrijk.org or info [at] vrankrijk.org