Queer squatters in house arrest protest

Gay activists took over an empty house in central Lund, southern Sweden, on Friday evening to protest over the lack of facilities for HBT people in the town.

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Around 15 people from the network Hardqueer entered the property in the hope of turning the house into a meeting place for gay people.

”We are sitting here in the house and have made it into a queer place,” said a Hardqueer spokesperson to news agency TT.

”We want a meeting place for everyone and somewhere that is defined as HBT-friendly,” they added.

Having organised the sit-in, the aim of the occupants was to claim the property and use it for workshops, seminars and performances.

”We don’t want a confrontation with the police,” the spokesman said. ”It is our way of showing how we can create a place that is missing in Lund.”

The Hardqueer network has been involved in a string of attention-grabbing incidents in the Skåne region over the past few months.

In May they dressed a number of statues in the city’s Lundagård park in women’s clothing and were involved in the campaign to allow women to bathe topless in Malmö’s public swimming pools.

Having been alerted to the situation, police arrived at the scene and three hours after the entering the premises they group were asked to leave.

”After that we went in and retrieved those that didn’t leave the building voluntarily,” said police spokesperson Calle Persson.

The evacuation process was carried out peacefully but the group could now face charges of breaking and entering.