page_title: Squatting in the Netherlands
section_title: Consolidation
hierarchical_section_title: Squatting in the Netherlands / Consolidation
caption_attribution_description: English&#58; Former Roman Catholic hospital (1923) in the Dutch city of Groningen.Frysk&#58; It haadgebou (1923) fan it eardere Roomske sikehûs oan de Verlengde Hereweg yn de Grinzer wyk Helpman. It pân waard ûntwurpen troch de Grinzer arsjitekt A.Th. van Elmpt (1866-1953). Yn 1979 is it gebou kreake, lyk as de rest fan it kompleks dêr't it ta heart. This is an image of a municipal monument in Groningen with number 101604
context_page_description: Squatting in the Netherlands refers to the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. The modern squatters movement began in the 1960s in the Netherlands. By the 1980s, it had become a powerful anarchist social movement which regularly came into conflict with the state, particularly in Amsterdam with the Vondelstraat and coronation riots.
  Some squats in cities have successfully legalised into still extant social centres and housing cooperatives such as ACU in Utrecht, the Grote Broek in Nijmegen, the Landbouwbelang in Maastricht, ORKZ in Groningen, the Poortgebouw in Rotterdam and Vrankrijk in Amsterdam. There have also been squats in the countryside such as Fort Pannerden and the Ruigoord village.
  Squatting was criminalised in October 2010. Between then and November 2014, 529 people were arrested. Some recent high profile evictions have included ADM, the Tabakspanden and De Vloek. The social movement continues in diminished form, with squatting still being used by certain groups, for example the migrant collective We Are Here.
context_section_description: The squatting movement took on an increasingly anarchist tone during the 1980s. In the Vondelstraat Riots, police moved to evict residents from a squatted building on the corner of Vondelstraat in Amsterdam, but it was immediately reoccupied and barricades erected. Street fights ensued between riot police and the squatters, with the building only being cleared when a military tank demolished the street barricades. Queen Beatrix's coronation later that year saw more riots when squatters chanted "No home, no coronation" (Dutch: Geen woning, geen kroning). In Groningen the eviction of the WNC squat in 1990 led to 137 arrests and the mayor called it war.
  In the past, squats sometimes went through a process of legalisation. This is the case with the Poortgebouw in Rotterdam, which was squatted in 1980. In 1982, the inhabitants agreed to pay rent to the city council, forming a housing cooperative of 30 people with a bar and venue on the ground floor. In Amsterdam, OCCII, OT301 and Vrankrijk are examples of legalised social centres. In the 2010s, Vrankrijk hosts mainly punk and queer parties. The NDSM former shipyard zone was recognised as a cultural hotspot and breeding place, successfully institutionalising in the early 2000s. The Grote Broek in Nijmegen was squatted in 1984 and legalised in the 2000s. The Vrijplaats Koppenhinksteeg in Leiden was occupied in 1968 and eventually evicted in 2010. ACU in Utrecht was squatted in 1976 and bought by the squatters in 1994. It provides a venue space for benefit concerts, an anarchist library, a bar and a vegan restaurant. There are also squats which refused or were unable to legalise such as De Blauwe Aanslag in The Hague (evicted 2003), Het Slaakhuis (evicted) in Rotterdam, ADM (evicted) in Amsterdam and the Landbouwbelang in Maastricht. The Landbouwbelang is a former grain silo beside the Maas river which houses 15 people and provides space for art exhibitions, music events and various festivals.
  ORKZ, or the Old Roman Catholic Hospital (Dutch: Oude Rooms-Katholieke Ziekenhuis), is located in Groningen on the Verlengde Hereweg. The hospital was squatted in August 1979 and legalised in 1986. As of 2004, 250 people live there in 235 apartments. Another 150 people make use of the ateliers. A derelict parking lot was taken over and made into a guerilla garden. Herbs and vegetables were grown in raised beds, fruit bushes were planted and an apiary was set up. The garden was legalised by the city council in 2012.
  There are also some squats in the countryside such as a squatted village called Ruigoord near Amsterdam. Fort Pannerden (a military fort built in 1869 near to Nijmegen) was occupied in 2000 by people concerned about the state of the building. It was evicted on November 8, 2006, by a massive police operation which used military machinery and cost one million euros. The squatters then re-squatted the fort on November 26 and have since made a deal with the local council which owns the fort. The deal stated that the squatters would receive a large piece of land to start a community in the rural area in between the city of Nijmegen and Arnhem. In exchange, the fort was handed over to local authorities, who turned it into a museum, with help provided by the former squatters.
  There are still residential squats in most Dutch cities.  The Dutch use the term krakers to refer to people who squat houses with the aim of living in them (as opposed to people who break into buildings for the purpose of vandalism or theft).
caption: Oude Rooms-Katholieke Ziekenhuis (ORKZ) Groningen
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