Vacant hostel on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz occupied
Squatters broke into an empty hostel on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz on Saturday. On Twitter, a group called Hotels to Housing announced the action in Berlin-Mitte. According to the authorities, the local police operation can still drag on. So far, there has been neither a complaint of trespassing nor an eviction action from the homeowner. Despite a demonstration in front of the building, the police wanted to de-escalate, especially since all available forces were needed for Walpurgis Night, police sources said.
“This morning we occupied the Wombat’s City Hostel in Berlin, which has been empty since 2019”, tells the squatters in a tweet. They are obviously concerned with opening up the building with 80 empty standing rooms for refugees. The Berlin Senate had to ensure that “decent and self-governing accommodation” was created in the building.
“Not everyone who flees has a Ukrainian passport”
According to the press release, the activists want to draw attention to the situation of Ukraine refugees from third countries: “Not everyone who flees has a Ukrainian passport. But everyone needs a safe home,” it says.
The background to this is probably the question, which has not yet been clarified between the federal and state governments, about long-term residence and work permits for this group of people. In the letter, the squatters call on the Senate to “expropriate all empty standing buildings in Berlin and to make them available to those seeking protection for self-managed accommodation”. According to a police spokesman, the number of squatters should be in the small single digits.
Police are on duty in front of the hostel
The Berlin police are still on duty with 30 officers in front of the hostel, it said in the afternoon. Around 60 demonstrators have now gathered at the building on Alte Schönhauser Strasse for a rally. The police are still trying to reach the owner of the site and, as is usual in such cases, make arrangements with him.
The action of the squatters should also be related to the announced eviction of a shelter for the homeless in Habersaathstraße. The property management there will probably make it free for Ukraine refugees.