Poland: Rozbrat squat solidarity call - the final strike!

international | housing | news report Monday February 22, 2010 00:28 by Kruk - Anarchist Federation

demonstration on 20th of March

The auction of the grounds where Poznan's Rozbrat squat is situated will take place on 26th March at 10 a.m. Since January 2008, when the bailiff came to the squat for the first time, we have managed to keep the squat, through different legal actions and protests. If nobody buys the ground on 26th March, the next auction will take place within the next 2-3 years. That is why this is a critical moment for us.

This years we will celebrate 16th year of the occupation of the buildings which were abandoned by a company, which took a lot of loans and ran off abroad. 16 years ago the buildings were squatted by people from the local anarchist community. Since then we have invested a lot our resources and work to renovate and rebuild the rooms that were going into ruin and we have also started a wide political, social and cultural activity. Currently, around 20 people live at Rozbrat, concert and rehearsal rooms, a library, a gallery, screen print and bike workshops, places for meetings and debates are also there.

Recently, as a part of the defence of Rozbrat campaign, we have actively taken part in the meetings of the city council and its different commissions, where they have been debating over a local land development plan of the Solacz district, which also includes the premises of Rozbrat (on the official map of the plan, the premises of Rozbrat were marked as “wastelands”). Because of significant resistance of the inhabitants of the district, the plan still have not been outvoted by the council. Since January 2009 we have made a lot of steps towards and agreement with the city authorities about our situation. Vice mayor of Poznan visited Rozbrat and he wasn't able to offer anything, although, in front of the media, he claimed that he has an alternative option. We asked about this offer in an official letter last May and we still have not got any answer.

On the 9th May 2009 we showed that Rozbrat has huge support. Around 1,500 people came out to the streets for our demonstration, those were not only the inhabitants of Poznan, but also our supporters from various communities and organizations. So far, there has been one auction of Rozbrat but nobody wanted to buy it. This time, according to the law, the price will be lower.

Thanks to all the actions in defence of Rozbrat that we have undertaken, we haven't been so strong before, but still, the distribution of forces is not even. Rozbrat is in danger. That's why we call everyone to support our protest and to take part in the demonstration on 20th March in Poznan.

We won't give up without fight! Rozbrat stays!