• Sweden edition

Activists occupy Lund buildings

Published: 18 May 09 07:29 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/19504/20090518/

New disturbances broke out in Lund in southern Sweden on Sunday as two deserted buildings were occupied by activists.

Between 150 and 200 demonstrators managed to force a police line on Södra vägen near Stadsparken in the centre of the university town. The demonstrators, taking part in an "occupation festival" then stormed towards the old hospital area of St.Lars.

At 3.20pm police responded and forced their way into the larger of the two occupied buildings. Two police officers climbed up to the roof where three activists sat apparently chained to the chimney, according to news agency TT.

St.Lars hospital was a psychiatric hospital whose operations have since been merged into Lund University Hospital. Some of the buildings remain in use.

Some of the young activists broke into one of the empty hospital buildings and shortly after into another 150 metres away. The activists then spread out through the underground system of passages that link the buildings.

By 7.30pm police had managed to regain control of the buildings and confirmed that 90 people had been detained.

The so-called occupation festival was held in Lund on Saturday organized by left wing youth groups. The university town has seen wave after wave of demonstrations since the autumn, with students and other young people protesting against a lack of housing.

More than 200 police were deployed on Saturday to monitor the situation and 26 people were detained after clashes with police. Several are suspected of rioting.

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

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10:15 May 18, 2009 by Twiceshy
full support for activists. politicians and police are serving riches and constantly work against poor people. if property is not brought to its meant, if it is empty, anybody has right to use it for something.
10:16 May 18, 2009 by sthlmstdnt
In the whole article, the only thing about why this happened is just "They were protesting against the accommodation situation in the city."

....
10:23 May 18, 2009 by magic1964
Left wing activist are lucky to live in a capitalist democratic country like Sweden....they should spend some hollidays in Cuba, Iran or North Corea....
12:39 May 18, 2009 by Harding00
I am left more confused after reading this article. Why exactly are the people protesting, I know it says " They were protesting against the accommodation situation in the city " but what does that mean exactly? Can anyone fill me in?
12:57 May 18, 2009 by fazoolmein
The standard of news reports on TheLocal is appalling. As some have already pointed out, the article doesn't describe the problem as to why the people were protesting. Just one line for that.
13:32 May 18, 2009 by magic1964
Left wing activist are spoild and bored kids with wealthy parents. In all city you find them, they think they are different but they all look and think the same. They are dressed in dirty blacks clothes with plenty of piercing and a palestinian scarf some times. Activists are young drunk Imbecils who try to think.........pathetics
14:17 May 18, 2009 by Puffin
Yes it is a bit vague from the Local's article

The problem is the acute housing shortage in Lund - where many young people cannot live in the city and some students have to drop out of their degrees because of accomodation problems.

The demonstration was attempting to make a point that there is in fact a lot of empty property in central Lund - including the former psychaitric hospital area (St Lars) where there are many empty buildings that could be coverted to housing and rented out
21:07 May 18, 2009 by iamanaccount
Total support for the activists from me as well. I acutely needed housing in Lund, and was able to find it, but it was ~1500 kronor/month more than I could afford in the long term and in a very inconvenient location (I've since moved to Malmö). The housing there situation is truly awful. Both the kommune and university heads need to take responsibility and arrange for both student housing AND affordable housing for young non-students.
21:18 May 18, 2009 by iamanaccount
Wow, look at all those "drunk Imbecils who try to think.....pathetics" who are actively trying to call attention to a huge problem and improve it not only for students and the poor, but also for normal middle-class people like me.
09:53 May 19, 2009 by magic1964
Well maybe the Swedish gov should count how many houses are available in Sweden before counting how many refugees they will take...
12:59 May 19, 2009 by Puffin
There is not a housing shortage in the whole of Sweden - but in certain cities yet despite this shortage there are large amounts of empty - often publicly owned property

In my kommun a few years ago they demolished 5 appartment blocks with a total of 80 appartments as there was noone to rent them - but Dalarna is not so easy for commuting to lectures in Lund.

Uppsala has soleved the problem by building on the park...
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