Today tenants blocked rush hour traffic and demonstrated against city housing policy, calling for the dismissal of the entire adminstration and condemning the role of all authorities in supporting the system of exploitation and speculation.
With slogans such as "evict the administrators before they evict you", "trust the authorities and you will wind up homeless" or "communal housing in the hands of the tenants", the demonstration made its way around the center of the Praga district, which is highly effected by reprivatization, rent increases and gentrification. Some undercover cops made their way into the demonstration and tried to arrest one member of ZSP but people blocked the police car and he was unarrested. Then they tried to arrest another, but again unsucessfully. The demo lasted a couple of hours, speeches were made and people invited to join the struggle. Hundreds of leaflets and copies of our newspaper, Zaplata, were handed out.
In the meanwhile, meetings continue and tenants have been active in confronting politicians. Yesterday it was time to confront Vice President Jakubiak, whose latest lies where exposed with the publication of the city's secret report on properties being reprivatized. Jakubiak, who people tried to recall last year, has received so much criticism that he cannot run for re-election. He and other politicians have been practically in hiding over the last couple of weeks, not appearing at their office hours and disappearing the moment they see any of us in the vicinity. And this happened again yesterday when he made a very quick exist at the sight of only a few old ladies ready to lynch him.
More actions are planned next week.
More photos from today's action on the
ZSP Warsaw blog here.
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