Squatting in Northern Ireland was unaffected by the recent law change in England and Wales, and remains a civil matter. ====Scotland==== Squatting is a criminal offence in Scotland, punishable by a fine or even imprisonment, under the Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865.
In 1919, anarchists occupied a building and were quickly evicted.
Many of the families then squatted on Symphony Way, a main road in the township of Delft, before being forced to move to a camp called Blikkiesdorp. === Sudan === Squatting in Sudan is defined as the "acquisition and construction of land, within the city boundaries for the purpose of housing in contradiction to Urban Planning and Land laws and building regulations." These informal settlements arose in Khartoum from the 1920s onwards, swelling in the 1960s.
Hoovervilles were homeless camps built across the country during the Great Depression in the 1930s.
The land invasions continued despite the authorities often evicting them and from 1945 until 1976, 10 per cent of development in Cochabamba was illegal.
Squatter settlements occurred in Hong Kong in 1946, after its wartime occupation by Japan.
In 1948, the Seven Men of Knoydart unsuccessfully squatted land owned by the Nazi-supporting Lord Brocket.
After 700,000 people migrated from mainland China to Hong Kong between 1949 and 1950; the squatter population was estimated at 300,000, with people sleeping wherever they could find a space.
West Point was founded in Monrovia in the 1950s and is estimated to house between 29,500 and 75,000 people.
After 700,000 people migrated from mainland China to Hong Kong between 1949 and 1950; the squatter population was estimated at 300,000, with people sleeping wherever they could find a space.
During the 1950s and 1960s, many Latin American cities demolished squatter settlements and would quickly evict land invasions.
In Argentina they are known as villa miseria (literally "misery settlement"), and as asentamiento in Uruguay and Guatemala. The population of Ecuador's capital Quito grew sevenfold between 1950 and 2001.
The first mass eviction on record in Manila was 1951 and the largest was in late 1963 and early 1964 when 90,000 people were displaced.
By 1951, the migrants had begun to seize land and build informal settlements.
A fire at Shek Kip Mei in December 1953 resulted in over 50,000 slum-dwellers being left homeless.
Between 1955 and 1975, the Cairo authorities built 39,000 public housing apartments but 2 million people moved there, mostly ending up in informal housing.
Squatters can gain title to land and property by adverse possession as governed by the 1957 Statute of Limitations Act.
Cité Soleil was founded in 1958 to house workers, then grew rapidly to 80,000 people in the 1980s and 400,000 people in the 1990s.
Oppositional movements from the 1960s and 1970s created freespaces in Denmark or squatting village in the Netherlands, and in England and Wales, there were estimated to be 50,000 squatters in the late 1970s.
Many of the families then squatted on Symphony Way, a main road in the township of Delft, before being forced to move to a camp called Blikkiesdorp. === Sudan === Squatting in Sudan is defined as the "acquisition and construction of land, within the city boundaries for the purpose of housing in contradiction to Urban Planning and Land laws and building regulations." These informal settlements arose in Khartoum from the 1920s onwards, swelling in the 1960s.
From the 1960s onwards, these settlements have provided a means of housing for poor workers and new migrants arriving in cities such as Ankara and Istanbul.
Some of the migrants evicted set up a camp outside the Parliament at Syntagma Square. ==Europe, Western== In many West European countries since the 1960s and 1970s, there are both squatted houses used as residences and self-managed social centres where people pursue social and cultural activities. There was a large squatting movement in the newly formed state of Austria following the First World War.
Section 61 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 provides police with additional power to remove trespassers when there is damage to land or property, trespassers are abusive, insulting or threatening or there are over six vehicles on premises related to squatters. ====Northern Ireland==== In the late 1960s, people in Northern Ireland were forced to squat through both poverty and a lack of decent housing.
During the 1950s and 1960s, many Latin American cities demolished squatter settlements and would quickly evict land invasions.
After failed attempts in the 1960s and 1970s to bulldoze slums out of existence, the authorities moved towards a policy of toleration.
Squatter Colony in Malad East has existed since 1962, and now, people living there pay a rent to the city council of 100 rupees a month.
The first mass eviction on record in Manila was 1951 and the largest was in late 1963 and early 1964 when 90,000 people were displaced.
The first mass eviction on record in Manila was 1951 and the largest was in late 1963 and early 1964 when 90,000 people were displaced.
An art exhibition was organised, with a camera obscura, live music and shadow theatre. ===Ireland=== The Dublin Housing Action Committee (DHAC) was active between 1968 and 1971, occupying buildings to protest the housing crisis.
The first occupations of abandoned buildings began in 1968 with the left-wing movements Lotta Continua and Potere Operaio.
Mass squats were organised in a number of prominent public buildings in central London, culminating in the occupation of 144 Piccadilly in 1969.
Oppositional movements from the 1960s and 1970s created freespaces in Denmark or squatting village in the Netherlands, and in England and Wales, there were estimated to be 50,000 squatters in the late 1970s.
It was estimated that in 2015 that were 200,000 squatters in Khartoum, 180,000 in Nyala, 60,000 in Kassala, 70,000 in Port Sudan and 170,000 in Wad Madani. === Zimbabwe === Land squats occurred in what would become Zimbabwe in the 1970s and were routinely evicted.
Some of the migrants evicted set up a camp outside the Parliament at Syntagma Square. ==Europe, Western== In many West European countries since the 1960s and 1970s, there are both squatted houses used as residences and self-managed social centres where people pursue social and cultural activities. There was a large squatting movement in the newly formed state of Austria following the First World War.
The squatters moved to another building. ===Germany=== In the 1970s, squatting in West German cities led to what termed "a self-confident urban counterculture with its own infrastructure of newspapers, self-managed collectives and housing cooperatives, feminist groups, and so on, which was prepared to intervene in local and broader politics".
There were estimated to be 50,000 squatters throughout Britain in the late 1970s, with the majority (30,000) living in London.
From the 1970s the government has attempted to regularize the squatter settlements and the programs have largely failed due to corruption.
After failed attempts in the 1960s and 1970s to bulldoze slums out of existence, the authorities moved towards a policy of toleration.
In 1970, 45.9% of Bogotá's population lived in these pirate neighbourhoods, as compared to 1.1% who were squatting. === Haiti === Following the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), squatters acquired smallholdings across the country.
Christiania in Copenhagen, Denmark is an independent community of almost 900 people founded in 1971 on the site of an abandoned military zone.
An art exhibition was organised, with a camera obscura, live music and shadow theatre. ===Ireland=== The Dublin Housing Action Committee (DHAC) was active between 1968 and 1971, occupying buildings to protest the housing crisis.
The Prohibition of Forcible Entry and Occupation Act of 1971 criminalized squatting.
In São Paulo, until 1972 favelas were usually demolished; after that time they were permitted, meaning that in the next decade the number of squatters rose to one million.
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was set up in 1972 and is a permanent protest occupation.
In Chile, the government of Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964-1970) began to permit shanty towns and the government of Salvador Allende (1970-1973) encouraged them, but under the military junta from 1973 onwards squatters were again quickly evicted.
Between 1955 and 1975, the Cairo authorities built 39,000 public housing apartments but 2 million people moved there, mostly ending up in informal housing.
The land invasions continued despite the authorities often evicting them and from 1945 until 1976, 10 per cent of development in Cochabamba was illegal.
By 1978, there were estimated to be two million squatters in Manila, occupying 415 different locations. In the early 1980s, the squatter population grew and the government of Ferdinand Marcos made attempts to relocate squatters to low-cost housing projects.
By the 1980s, the government was clearing settlements in Khartoum and regularizing them elsewhere.
After Zimbabwe was created in 1980, peasant farmers and squatters disputed the distribution of land.
By 1978, there were estimated to be two million squatters in Manila, occupying 415 different locations. In the early 1980s, the squatter population grew and the government of Ferdinand Marcos made attempts to relocate squatters to low-cost housing projects.
From the 1980s onwards, property developers have upgraded many gecekondu areas. Shortly after the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, Don Kişot (Don Quixote) was squatted in the Kadıköy district.
Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia has two large social centres, namely a former military barracks called Metelkova and a former bicycle factory called Rog. In 1980s Soviet Russia there was a practice used by artists and musicians to acquire communal rooms and then expand into other rooms.
In Copenhagen, as in other European cities such as Berlin and Amsterdam, the squatter movement was large in the 1980s.
In the 1980s, there were more than 300 pueblos jóvenes surrounding the capital Lima, housing over one million people.
In Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city and main port, around 600,000 people in the early 1980s were either squatting on self-built structures over swamplands or living in inner-city slums.
Cité Soleil was founded in 1958 to house workers, then grew rapidly to 80,000 people in the 1980s and 400,000 people in the 1990s.
(2014) Häuserkampf im Berlin der 1980er Jahre: Squatting in Berlin in the 1980s Squatting Europe Kollective (2013) Squatting Everywhere Kollective (2018) Fighting for spaces, Fighting for our lives: Squatting movements today Tobocman, S.
(reissued 2016) War in the Neighborhood New York: Autonomedia – a graphic novel about squatting on New York City's Lower East Side in the 1980s Waterhouse, R.
Nevertheless, forced by hunger and unemployment to take action, 20,000 squatters occupied 211 hectares of disused privately owned land on the periphery of Buenos Aires in 1981, forming six new settlements.
In 1982, Imelda Marcos referred to the latter group as "professional squatters [...] plain land-grabbers taking advantage of the compassionate society".
They collectively resisted the eviction attempts and by 1984 had outlasted the dictatorship.
A flashpoint came in 1986 with the Battle of Ryesgade.
During the First Liberian Civil War 1989–1997 and the Second Liberian Civil War 1999–2003, many people in Liberia were displaced and some ended up squatting in Monrovia.
By 1996, 40% of Tverskaya Street rented illegally or squatted. Squatting in the Czech Republic began in its modern form when anarchist and punk activists inspired by squatting movements in Amsterdam and Berlin occupied derelict houses following the 1989 Velvet Revolution.
The influential Kasa de la Muntanya was occupied in 1989.
In the early 1990s, the Government of Moscow prepared to renovate buildings then ran out of money, meaning that squatters occupied prime real estate.
The Ernst Kirchweger Haus (EKH) in Vienna was squatted as a social centre in 1990 and legalised in 2008.
The first and largest was the ZAD de Notre-Dame-des-Landes, which successfully opposed an airport project near Nantes. Geneva in Switzerland had 160 buildings illegally occupied and more than 2,000 squatters, in the middle of the 1990s.
From the 1990s onwards, there have been occasional political squats such as Disco Disco, Magpie and Grangegorman. ===Italy=== In Italy, despite the lack of official data, it appears that about 50,000 buildings all over the country are unused or abandoned and thus subject to squatting.
After the Spanish transition to democracy, residential squatting occurred in Spanish cities such as Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Valencia and Zaragoza. The number of squatted social centres in Barcelona grew from under thirty in the 1990s to around sixty in 2014, as recorded by Info Usurpa (a weekly activist agenda).
If a person occupies land for the required period of time as set out in provincial limitation acts and during that time no legal action is taken to evict them, then the ownership of the land transfers from the legal owner to the squatter. The Frances Street Squats in Vancouver were a row of six buildings squatted for nine months in 1990.
In the 1990s, La Paz had 48 unauthorised graveyards where the poor buried their dead.
Cité Soleil was founded in 1958 to house workers, then grew rapidly to 80,000 people in the 1980s and 400,000 people in the 1990s.
For example, in Pontal do Paraná in the state of Paraná 112 occupations were carried out, housing 6,500 families. === Colombia === The Colombian Constitution of 1991 states that housing is a universal human right.
The Community Mortgage Program was set up in 1992, aiming to help low-income families transition from squatting to affordable housing.
An estimated 170,000 people were living in slums in 1992.
The oldest squat in Poland, Rozbrat, was founded in 1994 through the occupation of a former paint factory in Poznań.
Section 61 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 provides police with additional power to remove trespassers when there is damage to land or property, trespassers are abusive, insulting or threatening or there are over six vehicles on premises related to squatters. ====Northern Ireland==== In the late 1960s, people in Northern Ireland were forced to squat through both poverty and a lack of decent housing.
In 1995, almost 70% of the population of the Nigerian capital Lagos were living in slums. The City of the Dead slum is a well-known squatter community in Cairo, Egypt.
The 1995 Criminal Code among other things criminalised squatting, but failed to stop it.
Experts said "the majority [of squatters] are forced into the lifestyle by financial pressures." Based on the internal database of UK Bailiff Company, there were 100 cases of squatting in 2009, the highest for 40 years, following trends estimated by the Advisory Service for Squatters that squatting has doubled in England and Wales since 1995. As with England, from 1 September 2012, squatting in a residential building was made a criminal offence subject to arrest, fine and imprisonment.
By 1996, 40% of Tverskaya Street rented illegally or squatted. Squatting in the Czech Republic began in its modern form when anarchist and punk activists inspired by squatting movements in Amsterdam and Berlin occupied derelict houses following the 1989 Velvet Revolution.
Ladronka (1993-2000) became internationally famous as a hub for counter-cultural activities and anarchist organisation. Squat Milada was occupied in 1997 and evicted in 2009.
Lela Karagianni had been squatted since 1998 and was later reoccupied.
During the First Liberian Civil War 1989–1997 and the Second Liberian Civil War 1999–2003, many people in Liberia were displaced and some ended up squatting in Monrovia.
For example, the former in Surabaya has been squatted since 2000s after being used as a prison for over 100 years. In Thailand, although evictions have reduced their visibility or numbers in urban areas, many squatters still occupy land near railroad tracks, under overpasses, and waterways.
In the early 2000s, the government estimated that 37% of the population lived in low-income urban communities, over half of which were squatting public land or renting precariously.
In the late 2000s, shanty towns again sprang up across the US.
By 2001, around 106,000 families had found secure housing in over 800 separate communities. ===Turkey=== Gecekondu is a Turkish word meaning a house put up quickly without proper permissions, a squatter's house, and by extension, a shanty or shack.
Topf & Söhne in Erfurt in April 2001 and remained there until they were evicted by police in April 2009.
In Argentina they are known as villa miseria (literally "misery settlement"), and as asentamiento in Uruguay and Guatemala. The population of Ecuador's capital Quito grew sevenfold between 1950 and 2001.
Another long-running squat is Can Masdeu, which survived a concerted eviction attempt in 2002.
In 2002, the New York City administration agreed to work with eleven squatted buildings on the Lower East Side in a deal brokered by the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board with the condition the apartments would eventually be turned over to the tenants as low-income [cooperative]s. ==Latin America and Caribbean== In Latin American and Caribbean countries, informal settlements result from internal migration to urban areas, lack of affordable housing and ineffective governance.
A fresh initiative set up in 2002 did not prevent new settlements being squatted.
The Midnight Star squat was used as an self-managed social centre in a former cinema, before being evicted after being used as a convergence space during the 2002 World Trade Organization meeting. ==See also== Claim club Squatters union Treesitting Temporary use ==References== ==Further reading== Bailey, R.
The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there were one billion slum residents and squatters globally.
According to a 2003 estimate by the United Nations in the UN-HABITAT report, there were about one billion people in squatter settlements and slums.
The figure was estimated to be 15 million in 2004.
As of 2004, across Brazil there were 25 million people living in favelas.
In 2005, Operation Murambatsvina ("Operation Drive Out Filth") organised by President Robert Mugabe evicted an estimated 700,000 people and affected over two million people. ==Asia== Israeli settlements are communities of Israeli citizens living in the Palestinian territories.
While not technically a squat until 14 December 2006, it was a social centre used by squatters and people involved in alternative culture more generally.
There are also a number of squatter buildings in the inner city, the most famous of which was a 22-storey building called Prestes Maia, whose inhabitants were ordered to leave in 2006.
The Ducor Hotel fell into disrepair and was squatted, before being evicted in 2007.
Another flashpoint came in 2007 when Ungdomshuset was evicted.
The RHINO organisation often faced legal troubles, and Geneva police evicted the inhabitants on July 23, 2007.
The Ernst Kirchweger Haus (EKH) in Vienna was squatted as a social centre in 1990 and legalised in 2008.
The organisation has represented the squatters in land occupations such as the Macassar Village in 2009 and the Cape Town and Durban Marikana land occupations in 2013 (both named after the Marikana massacre).
Ladronka (1993-2000) became internationally famous as a hub for counter-cultural activities and anarchist organisation. Squat Milada was occupied in 1997 and evicted in 2009.
Topf & Söhne in Erfurt in April 2001 and remained there until they were evicted by police in April 2009.
Squatters occupied an empty house in downtown Reykjavík on Vatnsstigur street in April 2009.
Vatnsstigur 4 was briefly resquatted on May 7, 2009, in solidarity with the Rozbrat squat in Poland, which was threatened with eviction.
Also in 2009, a group of graffiti artists called the Pretty Boys occupied Hverfisgata 34.
Experts said "the majority [of squatters] are forced into the lifestyle by financial pressures." Based on the internal database of UK Bailiff Company, there were 100 cases of squatting in 2009, the highest for 40 years, following trends estimated by the Advisory Service for Squatters that squatting has doubled in England and Wales since 1995. As with England, from 1 September 2012, squatting in a residential building was made a criminal offence subject to arrest, fine and imprisonment.
In the 2010s there have been several land squats protesting against large infrastructure projects.
Land squats include Ruigoord and Fort Pannerden. On 1 June 2010, squatting in the Netherlands became illegal and punishable when a decree was sent out that the squatting ban would be enforced from 1 October.
The Dutch government assessed the effectiveness of the new law in 2015, releasing a report giving statistics on arrests and convictions between October 2010 and December 2014.
There have been several road protest land squats such as Bilston Glen and Pollok Free State. ====Wales==== In 2010, a representative of the UK Bailiff Company claimed that the number of people squatting in Wales was at its highest for 40 years.
In 2010, Colombia was the country with the second most internally displaced people in the world, at an estimated 4 million.
Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, 1.5 million people were displaced.
As of 2011, 64% of Zambians lived below the poverty line, whilst the United Nations predicted a 941% population increase by 2100. === Liberia === In Liberia, squatting is one of three ways to access land, the other being ownership by deed or customary ownership.
Their intention was to make a clandestine gallery and then when they were not evicted, they legalised the space and called it Gallery Bosnia. When the Reykjavíkur Akademían (the Reykjavík Academy) was evicted at short notice from Hringbraut 121 in November 2011, it was occupied in protest.
Following legal challenges, on October 28, 2011, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands decided that the eviction of a squat can only occur after an intervention of a judge.
The BBC reported in 2011 that the government estimated that there were "20,000 squatters in the UK" and "650,000 empty properties".
The Forest Café in Edinburgh squatted its old premises in 2011 before moving to a new site.
The North Star hotel was temporarily squatted as a protest against emptiness by the Vancouver Anti-Poverty Committee. In 2011, the 'Occupy Toronto squat team' squatted a basement at 238 Queen Street West and offered to take on a lease for 99 cents per year.
The settlers had already occupied the house and been evicted in 2012.
The first public squat in Romania was Carol 53 in Bucharest, occupied in 2012 by artists.
These three social centres, all in Prague, were the city's three most important political squats. Starting from December 2012, Greek Police initiated extensive raids in a number of squats in Athens, arresting and charging with offences all illegal occupants (mostly anarchists).
A book about the occupation was published in 2012, entitled Topf & Söhne – Besetzung auf einem Täterort (Topf & Söhne – Occupation of a crime scene).
Since 2012, Hambach Forest has been occupied by activists seeking to prevent its destruction by the energy company RWE. ===Iceland=== In Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland, there is a small tradition of squatting.
On 1 September 2012, under Section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, squatting in residential property was criminalised by the Cameron–Clegg coalition, punishable by up to six months in prison or a £5000 fine, or both.
The march was brutally repressed by the RUC. In 2012, activists from Occupy Belfast squatted a Bank of Ireland building in Belfast city centre and used it as a social space.
Experts said "the majority [of squatters] are forced into the lifestyle by financial pressures." Based on the internal database of UK Bailiff Company, there were 100 cases of squatting in 2009, the highest for 40 years, following trends estimated by the Advisory Service for Squatters that squatting has doubled in England and Wales since 1995. As with England, from 1 September 2012, squatting in a residential building was made a criminal offence subject to arrest, fine and imprisonment.
Cardiff Squatters Network was formed in December 2012, to network together squatters citywide, and host "skill-share" workshops on squatting legally in commercial buildings. ==North America== ===Canada=== In Canada, there are two systems to register the ownership of land.
The organisation has represented the squatters in land occupations such as the Macassar Village in 2009 and the Cape Town and Durban Marikana land occupations in 2013 (both named after the Marikana massacre).
From the 1980s onwards, property developers have upgraded many gecekondu areas. Shortly after the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, Don Kişot (Don Quixote) was squatted in the Kadıköy district.
There were large riots in Zürich when the Binz occupation was evicted in 2013.
It was stated to be the capital's first occupied and self-managed social centre; Caferağa Mahalle Evi (community centre Caferağa), also in Kadıköy, was squatted soon afterwards and evicted in December 2014.
A place was occupied in Beşiktaş district of Istanbul on March 18, 2014 and named Berkin Elvan Student House, after a 15-year-old boy who was shot during the Gezi protests and later died.
Atopya was squatted in Ankara in June 2014 by anarchists, who claimed it was the city's first political squat. ==Europe, Central and Eastern== The trajectory of squatting in central and eastern Europe is very different from that of western Europe because, until recently, countries were part of the Communist Bloc and squatting is generally not tolerated.
Klinika was an occupied social centre between 2014 and 2019.
In 2014, 1,500 riot police officers, a tank-like police vehicle, a police water cannon and helicopters were used to clear a building occupied by the group Pizzeria Anarchia in Vienna. In Belgium, the village of Doel was slowly occupied by squatters and used by street artists after becoming a ghost village when the plans to expand Antwerp's harbour stalled.
The Dutch government assessed the effectiveness of the new law in 2015, releasing a report giving statistics on arrests and convictions between October 2010 and December 2014.
After the Spanish transition to democracy, residential squatting occurred in Spanish cities such as Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Valencia and Zaragoza. The number of squatted social centres in Barcelona grew from under thirty in the 1990s to around sixty in 2014, as recorded by Info Usurpa (a weekly activist agenda).
In 2014, the ultimately unsuccessful attempts to evict the long-running social centre of Can Vies provoked major riots.
It was estimated that in 2015 that were 200,000 squatters in Khartoum, 180,000 in Nyala, 60,000 in Kassala, 70,000 in Port Sudan and 170,000 in Wad Madani. === Zimbabwe === Land squats occurred in what would become Zimbabwe in the 1970s and were routinely evicted.
From 2015 onwards Athens has seen refugee squats in response to the European migrant crisis which are anarchist and self-organised.
The Dutch government assessed the effectiveness of the new law in 2015, releasing a report giving statistics on arrests and convictions between October 2010 and December 2014.
Indigenous peoples occupied a gold mine at Tacacoma in 2015 which they said was on their anecestral land.
In the 2016 Mathura clash, members of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi (Free India Legal Ideas Revolutionary Protesters) who had been living in Mathura's largest public park Jawahar Bagh for two years were evicted in a large police operation.
The 2016 Bendigo Street housing dispute saw squatters successfully contesting road-building plans.
(reissued 2016) War in the Neighborhood New York: Autonomedia – a graphic novel about squatting on New York City's Lower East Side in the 1980s Waterhouse, R.
The international community considers the settlements in occupied territory to be illegal, In March 2018, Israeli settlers were evicted from a house they had illegally occupied in Hebron, a Palestinian city in the West Bank.
In October 2018, Fatou Bensouda, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court stated that Israel's planned demolition of Bedouin village Khan al-Ahmar could constitute a war crime. Squatters in Malaysia live on both privately owned and government-owned land.
The largest favela is Heliópolis, with over 200,000 inhabitants as of 2018.
Klinika was an occupied social centre between 2014 and 2019.
In 2019, several squats in Exarcheia were evicted by the Greek state.
Urbs: Revista de Estudios Urbanos y Ciencias Sociales, 11(1), 81-93, 2021. Corr, A.
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