Prague: Police attacked the recently opened space Cibulka

On Friday 14th November 2008, late in the night, police violently - and without any notice given to the owners - entered the building Cibulka in Prague. A part of the large building was inhabited by a group of autonomists, who had a sort of a verbal agreement to occupy the building and recently, they introduced the project to the public as a social and cultural space. Allegedly, the police was searching for a criminal who was supposed to be hidden in the yard. But according to people occupying the house, they haven't noticed them of anything like that. Three of the squatters, afraid of a nazi attack or an attempted eviction, climbed up the roof. The police started to smash the roofing tiles of the already neglected building and later reported that those on the roof attacked them with tiles and bricks. The situation got even worse when one policeman did a warning shot in the air, this was followed by verbal threatening and made the squatters come down, where other aggressive behavior continued. The supporters arrived quite early, some 30-40 people tried to blockade the police cars. Four other people were arrested. Then, the police left the place and they drove to the police station. When supporters arrived in front of the office to protest against the intervention, riot police was ready and some other police violence occurred without any reason, two people were detained. Some people were released after few hours, one stayed in custody until Sunday and the three squatters were released in the morning after the incident, but charged with an attack upon a public agent.

A demonstration against repression and in support of the Cibulka space took place on Sunday with around 150 persons.

Though the owners stated that they were not informed of the intervention, they are not open to any further negotiations and social projects in the building. They want to sell it, but the place is empty since years and left to rot, and evidently, some roof joists had been cut off in the past. To help the building, a historical landmark, to fall down and give place to some luxurious nastiness.

Some photos:

http://domaci.ihned.cz/115-30392250-419480-0-280530-002000_d-92#fg http://blisty.cz/2008/11/14/art43828.html http://czechtek.bloguje.cz/741795-pokus-o-vzkriseni-cibulky-si-vyslouzil-policejni-zasah.php

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