Protests against illegal evacuation in Habersaathstrasse: residents fight against owners

Protests against illegal evacuation in Habersaathstrasse: residents fight against owners

In Berlin-Mitte there will be an evacuation on Habersaathstrasse on Wednesday. According to the Berlin police, around 15 people are currently protesting against the measures of the owner. The police are on duty with around 30 officers, but only five to ten police officers are counted by reporters of the Berliner Zeitung on site.

The Arcadia Estate GmbH, owner of Habersaathstraße 40-48, plans to demolish five buildings in order to build a new building here. The dispute over the real estate has been going on for several years.

An activist of the vacancy in Hab-I-Saath initiative considers the evacuation to be illegal. Valentina Hauser told the Berliner Zeitung that the demolition permit had expired at the end of July and there was no court order for the evacuation. She criticizes the procedure of investors and their handling of the basic needs.

The police said on Wednesday that the tenancy had ended, but the residents do not want to leave the building. The exact number of people in the building is unknown, but according to a resident there are several dozen there. The owner of the owner on site was also sighted, but they did not want to identify themselves at the request of the residents. In the meantime, even crowbar and a default hammer from security were carried.

The Arcadia Estate GmbH, according to the initiative, has over 150 refugees from Ukraine living in the affected building. Since the occupation in December 2021, more than 80 formerly homeless people have found a home there. The initiative reports that the building application for the new building will become obsolete if there are no demolition activities by June 2024.

In the past few months, a hard struggle between the residents, tenancy law activists, the district and the owner has been led around the houses. According to the police spokesman from the district, part of the building had been made available to the homeless in the middle of the winter months.