Germany: Police Evicts Anarcha Queer Feminist Squat And Impedes Journalists At Work
Location: Germany, Berlin
Date: October 9, 2020Available in: 🇩🇪 Deutsch
Liebig34, an “anarcha-queer-feminist” housing project in Berlin, has been cleared of residents following a contentious eviction involving at least 3,000 police officers (with some news channels mentioning 5,000). ‘You can’t evict a movement, you can’t evict a heart!’ was one of the slogans of the protests following the ‘eviction’.
Liebig34 is described by its occupants as an “anarcha-queer-feminist housing project” and has stood for 30 years as a safe space for queer people and feminists. Anarcha-feminism posits patriarchy and traditional gender roles as manifestations of involuntary coercive hierarchy that should be replaced by decentralized free association.
Liebig34’s house was originally squatted after the Berlin wall fell. It is one of the last squats in Berlin, being an icon against capitalist change. Furthermore, it has been seen as a historical and symbolic landmark for the city. Although there are a lot of other house projects with partly queer only/no cis-men allowed in Berlin, Liebig34 has been famous for going head to head with the city municipality. The city originally sold the Liebig34’s squatted house for profit to a real estate maker who owns at least 200 houses in Friedrichshain (the neighbourhood of Liebig34) alone. The authorities forced the residents to get a contract with the owner in order to continue staying. Although the contract ended, people kept occupying. According to the law, the people who occupied were disobedient renters and they had different rights. This means that the house was not a squat any longer (from the moment it has a contract), but a house/living project since it was legalized. However, this did not help stop the tug-of-war as the police officers have systematically targeted and harassed the collective members.
During the eviction of the residents, many protestors stood in solidarity both in Berlin and other cities while journalists were on the ground trying to report the incident. The police however constantly bullied and harassed people on the ground, and journalists were no exception. They have impeded the journalists’ work several times by hitting them and not letting them close to the scene. A German article was published regarding police violence and silencing against journalists on the ground. Several journalists reported on Twitter that police officers threatened them and attacked them by hitting and pushing.
Among those impeded at work was Christina Gutsmiedl, reporter of Taz Gazette. She said that she was pushed around by policemen to keep her away from the scene and even though she showed her press card, she was met with violence and impediment at work.
It is the initiative’s decision not to talk to the press directly but spread its own material for the press to use. While the collective mainly releases statements on its blog, it also shares posts on a Twitter account.Liebig34 said in a statementon the eviction “For 30 years, Liebig 34 has been a place for people who are affected by various forms of patriarchal violence, who are affected by hostility to trans people and who are marginalised in other ways. During all this time, Liebig34 gave people who experience stalking a place of refuge, made rooms available to refugees, homeless women were able to knock on the door and breathe in our guest room for a while from the cold and violence. Those affected by sexual violence experience solidarity and protection at this place. People who do not conform to binary gender norms, or want to transition find a space for development here that is usually not available in a heteronormatively structured society.”
In a statement following the contentious eviction, the house residents stated: ‘‘We are sad. We are crying. We are exhausted. WE ARE ANGRY. They can‘t imagine the determination they have awakened in us. This eviction is a moment of radicalization. So many borders have been crossed... You can have our house, you will never get our passion. We are so much more than this house – we are anarchists, feminists, queers and antifascists who will now channel their anger and attack capitalist patriarchy to the last.’’ The collective then called people for immediate, decentralized actions starting from day one, ending the post with ‘‘Let us experience a wild and chaotic October together!’’. What is yet to come is for everyone to see and experience.
The area at which the house is in, was majorly squatted in the 90's. The whole squatting/anarchist scene gave Berlin the look it has today. Exactly, because of this, the squats gave rise to the subcultures and cultural development of the city. Squatting has been illegal in Berlin for many years, with charges as heavy as a prison penalty. Although silent squats do exist, they cannot be open or public due to state oppression.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is alarmed by the way the police acted towards press members, in a country such as Germany which is seemingly exemplary in terms of respect to press freedom. We urge the authorities to swiftly take action against those police officers who impeded the work of journalists and physically attacked both journalists, collective members and protestors.
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