Squatting Eviction Underway in Grangegorman

national | housing | news report

Monday March 23, 2015 20:57

by Grangegorman

This Morning at 6.30am we were woken from our beds.Private security working for NAMA were breaking into our homes. We live in a flourishing squatted community in Grangegorman.This space which was once disused warehouses filled with rubble, asbestos and broken glass has been turned into an inspiring and beautiful place to be.The place is coved with artwork, and the community garden has begun to blossom.We have a circus space, poetry nights, folk gigs, Art Exhibitions, Fairs and a community Kitchen.

on the gates

But the Government and NAMA would rather this space be fenced off and left empty than for people to use it. 30 people call this place they're home. Yet they spend tonnes of money evicting us while the number of families ending up homeless and the number of people living on the streets increases daily. Yeh they'd like this place to remain empty,disused spaces adds to the shortage of houses and means landlords can charge more for rent. Forcing even more onto the streets.

But today we said enough is enough. They have no court order to evict us. So far all the houses have resisted eviction.Sitting on the Gates we hang banners. People from the wider community come down to show they're support, drop in food and play music.The gates have been chained so that the workers can't get they're machinery out. They can leave freely by a side gate but the company cares more about their machinery then their workers own health.Even as darkness falls moral of the community is high as people banter with those passing by and tea is passed around amongst the people sitting high up on the gate.Solidarity holds us strongly together throughout the night and we'll see you all here tomorrow morning.This place is our home. We're not leaving!

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Comments (1 of 1)

You might want to add "the rules" (that apply to your case)

by Mike Novack

Tue Mar 31, 2015 15:24

For example, you say "without eviction proceedings" but do they apply to your case? (would it be reasonable for us to think so?)

As I understand it, in many European countries, HOUSING left vacant my be claimed by "squatting". And to get people do ng that out requires eviction proceedings with a court deciding if the property had been abandoned/left vacant long enough, etc.

But I can't off the top of my head think of any place where COMMERCIAL (not residential) property can be claimed this way, certainly not for "commercial" purposes. Interesting thought about whether could be claimed for residential purposes, again I don't offhand know of examples.

Is THIS what is going one? You want a test case? In that case might as well tell us that instead of saying "without eviction proceedings" because they wouldn't need that until/unless the case got decided that far in your favor (that one can even MAKE a squat claim against commercial property). In other words, they couldn't take out EVICTION proceedings until some case had decided this sort of thing WAS a "squat" (as opposed to simple trespass).

OR (please do) if you have a precedent in mind that you are depending upon, tell us about it.

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Squatting Eviction Underway in Grangegorman

Comments (1 of 1)