„Hier sind wir“ – besetztes Flüchtlingshaus in der Nähe von Amsterdam leistet Widerstand gegen Räumung

Eine Gruppe von etwa 60 Menschen lebt seit längerem in einem vorher verlassenen Haus in Diemen bei Amsterdam. Im September erhielten sie den offiziellen Bescheid einer drohenden Räumung. Nun rufen sie für den heutigen Freitag, 17. November 2017, zu einer Solidaritätsdemonstration gegen die Räumung und für „normales Leben“ auf. Das sind mehrheitlich „papierlose“ Flüchtlinge, die meist seit mindestens fünf Jahren in dieser unmenschlichen Hängepartie leben müssen. Auch jene von ihnen, die eigentlich die Konsequenz gezogen hatten, angesichts der europäischen Feindschaft wieder in ihre Ursprungsländer zurück zu kehren, konnten dies nicht, weil diese Staaten ihnen ebenfalls die Einreise verweigerten. In dem Aufruf „#Refugees #Netherlands: Support Resistance Against Eviction – We Are here“ am 15. November 2017 bei Enough is Enough dokumentiert, wird zur Unterstützung des Widerstands mobilisiert, der im Rahmen des Netzwerks „Wir sind hier“ (Wij zijn hier) organisiert wird. Siehe dazu auch die Dokumentation eines Beitrags über die Vorgeschichte der Aktion:

We are here needs your support, coming Friday!

„We are a group of refugees seeking asylum and living in an abandoned building in Diemen-Zuid. In September 2017, we were handed an eviction notice by the police to leave our building. In the name of the organisation, Wij Zijn Hier, we took the case up to court. This is not the first time this has happened. In fact, this has occurred an astonishing 29 times over 5 years (that is around 6 times a year) – we find a place to live, settle in and are forced out of the building after a few months. The process repeats itself: the building receives an eviction notice, we fight the eviction notice, and we lose the court case. Sometimes we are given a few months to move out, but then this starts all over again. This time, however, we decided not to fight in court and forfeited our hearing. This was a peculiar yet crucial decision as we are becoming increasingly frustrated with a short term fix: finding a new building, being evicted and starting the search all over again. This move was a call for a long term solution – a long term solution by the police and mayor. And yet, on Friday the 10th of November 2017, we were handed an eviction notice of one week by the police. The options are limited: given that the BBB’s in Amsterdam are already crowded, abandoned buildings at full capacity, we are faced with the possibility of sleeping on the streets or mass arrest if we do not comply. Furthermore, the emotional distress of this repeated cycle should not be taken lightly as we have already lost 4 people due to stress and depression.

The situation of displaced people in Amsterdam is very real. If 100 people living in a building are evicted, then they end up on the street, or hopefully find another building. The most disturbing part of this situation is that this always seems to happen right around or just before Christmas time when the weather is at its harshest.  Emotions are running high in the building of Diemen-Zuid this week as this is an endless, dysfunctional cycle. As Wij Zijn Hier, we are calling for change – real change on the part of the authorities. We are asking authorities to empathise with the situation of displaced people in the city – some people have been shifted from place to place, building to building, for over ten years now. We are already in a situation of uncertainty and instability as undocumented people in Amsterdam, this is a request for us to have some long term stability in terms of a living situation. We are calling for human decency and understanding so that, at least, we can live without upheaval or fear.

For more information or if you would like to get involved, please contact: weareherenl@gmail.com