Squatting soon a thing of the past

2 November 2007

AMSTERDAM – Squatting will most likely soon be a thing of the past. A private member’s bill from the Christian democrat CDA can count on majority support in Parliament, the Telegraaf writes. Liberal VVD and Freedom party PVV have long supported making squatting a crime.

ChristenUnie and SGP are positively disposed towards a ban, the paper writes, but their support still depends on what form the CDA bill takes. The five parties together hold 80 seats in Parliament.

Squatting used to be the realm of idealists, ChristenUnie MP Ed Anker says in the paper. “But that is now being overshadowed by international squatters who come here to cause trouble.”

Squatters in Amsterdam reportedly tried to kill or seriously injure police officers during an evacuation on the Kerkstraat on Monday. Squatters tried to use a small mechanism to collapse a supporting beam at the very moment that the riot police were entering the building via the roof.

“In the best case the police would have been injured, but I fear there would have been deaths if the motor on the machine had not failed,” the commissioner who led the evacuations told the newspaper. “We are now intent on finding those responsible. We will no longer be announcing evacuations in advance to let the squatters prepare.”

The Telegraaf writes that the parliamentary factions of CDA and VVD feel that the squatters should be prosecuted for attempted murder.

Subject: Dutch news