The squat at Vondelstraat 72
A week earlier, on Saturday 23 February, the empty building at Vondelstraat 72 was occupied by a group of determined krakers (squatters). The city council, which had a strict policy of clearing squatted buildings immediately, responded quickly. That very night the Mobiele Eenheid, the ME (riot police), struck and forcibly removed the squatters from the building. On Friday 29 February, only a few days later, the squatters retook the building. This time, however, they were better prepared. The eviction that followed turned into a fierce battle in which 53 police officers were injured. It became clear that this situation would not be resolved without a fight.
Vondelvrijstaat
The squatters dragged building materials from nearby roadworks into the street and used them to build high barricades. The Vondelstraat was renamed the 'Vondelvrijstaat' (Vondel Free State), an improvised fortress where campfires burned day and night and bands played. A sort of grim street fair. The residents of the Vondelstraat naturally made themselves heard. Some brought soup and warm blankets to the squatters, while others argued fiercely about the point and the necessity of this uprising. Tensions reached boiling point when shops in the area were looted and the atmosphere grew ever more menacing.
Time for action
The morning of 3 March dawned. At 4 a.m. the column of tanks left the Crailoo army base near Hilversum, their heavy tracks rattling over the deserted roads. In the early half-light, vans full of ME officers took up positions around the Vondelstraat, while armoured vehicles approached from several directions. A helicopter hovered above the battlefield and rained down leaflets warning the squatters that shots would be fired if they used violence. "Once the column is moving, it cannot be stopped," read the threatening message.
And that is what happened: the first tank drove straight through a burning barricade. The blaze did not even seem to slow down the heavy metal colossus. Stones, rubble and building materials were shoved aside like toys. The squatters greeted the advancing ME officers with the Hitler salute and chanted 'Sieg Heil', determined not to give up their territory without a fight. Some had positioned themselves on top of overturned site huts and had to leap to safety in a hurry when the tanks drove at them without hesitation. Massive excavators, which would normally be obstacles in their own right, were pushed aside by the tanks with ease.
30 April 1980
Towards evening, calm slowly returned, but the traces of the battle remained visible for a long time. The area around the Overtoom looked like a disaster zone. The Battle of the Vondelstraat remained etched in the city's memory, as a day on which the boundaries between order and chaos, between authority and resistance, were blurred for good. And then 30 April 1980 was still to come...
