A-Infos (en) Poland: Anarchists successfully stop allotment gardens eviction

Anarchists from Rozbrat squat in Poznan, together with other groups, have 
successfully stopped the eviction of neighbouring allotment gardens "ROD 
Bogdanka". ---- The allotments are a part of the city's green belt and have been 
used by the community since 1953. For decades, the land belonged to the state 
treasury. In the early 90s, it was acquired by a somewhat shadowy developers' 
company Darex. Darex took out a loan to purchase the land, but then never paid it 
back while still maintaining their ownership rights. As of today, the company is 
still listed as an official owner in the land registry records for both the 
allotments and Rozbrat.
Over the years, the municipality of Poznan attempted to reclaim the land, but so 
far without too much luck. In the meantime, the land has become a prime estate 
for developers and dramatically increased its monetary value. The developers, of 
course, plan to turn it into some form of a posh "regeneration" project and have 
been harassing both the allotment holders and the squatters from Rozbrat to get 
them to move on. In the past year, there were reports of arson on the allotments, 
and Darex has also been threatening the plot holders with absolutely overwhelming 
financial penalties should they chose to hold on to their gardens. By these 
methods, they have successfully intimidated many people to leave their plots; 
however, a few are still remaining.

The attempted eviction took place yesterday morning, when Darex, with the 
assistance from the police, turned up intending to clear the space to get it 
ready for so-called redevelopment. This triggered an immediate resistance from 
anarchists, environmental groups, tenants' groups and the allotment holders 
themselves. An impromptu direct action was organised with people blocking the 
developers and the police from accessing the land. After a stand-off, Darex and 
the police have given up on their forceful removal attempt: for now at least.

According to the statement released by Rozbrat this morning:

We were ready for the arrival of the businessmen. Thanks to the joint 
mobilisation of the allotment gardeners, tenant groups and anarchists, it was 
possible to stop the plan to demolish the existing buildings.

Darex is a peculiar entity: in the past 30 years, it has not run any real 
business activity. The company appeared in 1990 to "buy" the land of the then 
state-owned enterprise for one-tenth of its value, take a loan for ten times more 
and disappear. However, it did not buy the site from the state, but from a 
private person who also soon disappeared. (...)

Today Darex crooks are back to life. In their shadow, some developers wish to get 
hold of this part of Poznan, now worth much more than thirty years ago.

In practice, Rozbrat and the allotment holders are on the same cart. Only by 
joint effort will we free this land and the rest of Poznan from further waves of 
privatisation. An eventful winter and spring is coming, as Darex is certainly not 
giving up.

zb

https://freedomnews.org.uk/poland-anarchists-successfully-stop-allotment-gardens-eviction/
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