Amsterdam Mayor Urges Senators To Reject Stricter Squatting Legislation - Reports

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema along with the capital's police and prosecutors have called on lawmakers to reject a bill that seeks to speed up eviction of squatters, the local media reported on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th March, 2021) Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema along with the capital's police and prosecutors have called on lawmakers to reject a bill that seeks to speed up eviction of squatters, the local media reported on Tuesday.

According to DutchNews.nl website, the authorities urge senators not to vote for the bill, passed by the lower chamber in December. The new legislation would make eviction procedures faster by allowing squatting cases to be processed under the criminal rather than the civil law.

Critics of the bill said it is counterproductive because most squatters leave empty buildings voluntarily.

Halsema considered that it will also put more pressure on the court and police, mentioning that in Amsterdam the problem of squatting seems to be irrelevant, as only 15 buildings were squatted in 2020.

Squatting in the Netherlands became a social movement in the 1960s when the country suffered from housing shortage. Squatters often came into the conflict with the state, especially in 1980, the movement's peak, when riots in� Amsterdam led to clashes with the police and even tanks' deployment on the streets. In 2010, squatting was banned. According to a report published by the Dutch government in 2015, 529 people was arrested for squatting from October 2010 to December 2014.