Fire inside Rigaer Str.84 – Berlin

On the 28th April 2007 a fire destroyed the living place for 48 people,a
space for international guests, public cooking space, cinema, free space
for politcal groups, concert space, and a bar.

We, the inhabitants, had to watch the roof and parts of the womens floor
burn for hours. Luckily no one got hurt in our project or the
neighboring house(Proskauerstraße 10), where the fire also spread. The
shock of the situation is still very strong, and it takes a lot of
concentration to have the energy to look to the future.

History of the house

Rigaerstraße 84 was squatted in 1990 and was legalized through rent
contracts in 1991. In 1997, shortly after the first attempt to renovate
the house, which could not happen due to resistence from the inhabitents,
the roof of the entire corner (rigaerstraße 84 and proskauerstraße 10)
burned. According to the reports from the fire investigators, the fire
was intentional. In addition to the roof the 4th floor flats were
damaged by fire and water. The other floors were minimally damaged.
Both houses were closed for a while by the police.

Shortly after the fire and failed renovation attempt, the house was sold
to the current owners under dubious circumstances.

On november 2006, a new renovation plan came to us. In response to that,
we offered to buy the house from the current owners. They told us that,
due to tax laws, they did not want to sell to us.

At the time of the latest fire there were 48 people living in the R84.

Right now there is no offical report from the police of the fire, but for
us it looks this way:

The fire was first noticed by the inhabitants of the back house at
4:30am. The fire started in a locked, uninhabited room that had not been
used for a long time. At this time we could not see other seperate
fires. As we tried to fight the fire with fire extinguishers and hoses,
people ran around the houses waking the others up, and called the fire
department. Even before the fire department and police arrived, there
were civil (plain clothed) cops in the house, forcing people to get out
without grabbing essential belongings.

The fire department arrived at 4:45am and started, in staircase and later
with ladder trucks, to fight the fire. There were 10 fire trucks blocking
the street, yet majority of the time, only one of the firetrucks was
used...
In not much time, the entire rooftop of R84 caught on flames
and the fire began to spread across the rooftop of
Proskauerstr. 10. Around the same time, the 4th fl. of R84
(which was the women's floor), began to catch aflame.
At this point, as far as anybody standing outside could tell,
the process of extinguishing the fire was concentrated mostly
on the normal rented flats of Proskauerstr.10, ignoring the
blazing flame on the R84 side for what seemed to be hours.
A few of the firefighters, who were asked how the fire
started and spread so quickly, responded that they were quite
sure that some kind of accelerant was used in the arsenal.
Some hours later, after most of the fire was extinguished,
the entire rooftop, most of the attic and a good portion of
the 4th floor was mostly just a skeleton of what once ws our
home. The rest of the house, due to the extinguishing
process, was destroyed and declared too dangerous to enter
and no longer habitable.
While the building was still aflame, passerbys stopped on the
sidewalk and gauked at the ruins.Amongst these „passerbys“, 5
people, recognized as Nazis, heckled the victims of this
event. They were decidedly driven away.
On the same day, the building police closed access to both
buildings. While we,the inhabitants from R84 house project,
were denied the right to sit across the street of their
burning home and to have breakfast in mourning, the
neighboring house (Pros.10) inhabitants were allowed to
retrieve personal belongings and effects, All day, we were
not allowed to re-enter our home to retrieve important
documents, money, or even clean socks. The police said that
our house was more endangered of potentially collapsing upon
us....

The next day, a few different local Berliner newspapers
stated that the fire was started due to a
malfunctioning marijuana plantation, which we were
supposedly growing in our attic. They got their information
from a quite unbalanced, disgruntled neighbor, who has been
quite aggressive towards us in the past. Needless to say,
this information is false, and we, as a household, were
never given the possibility to give our statement on this
matter to the press. They never asked. Guess the Marijuana
story was more juicier than the truth. Lies in the media? Go
figure!
We find this spread of false information unjust and
unfair, and have already spoken with our lawyer to put
force on the local media to take back these bogus
accusations and let our voice be heard.
On Tues afternoon, we,the ex-inhabitants organized an
infocenter in the bar next door, Fischladen. This is the
collection place for donated materials. In the same
time, we were in mediation with the police and bldg.
inspectors to allow us to retrieve our smoldering and
wet belongings. Also, we tried to arrange a meeting with
our local Mayor Dr. Franz Schulz,which couldn't take
place,since he wasn't there...

Later that afternoon, the owner from R84 agreed to allow
us access to the house for a few hours the next day. In
the evening, there was a public meeting where supporters
came to get detailed info, ask questions and exchange
ideas.

On Wed, 30.May, we finally had access to our house from
10am til 1pm to retrieve our belongings which were not
destroyed by water and fire damage. Many friends,
neighbors and concerned individuals helped us make the
move quick and productive. A big thank you to all of
you!!
In the afternoon, some of us were able to finally meet
with the local Mayor. We asked for his support in our
demands for an immediate housing alternative for us, as
a house collective. In the evening, another group of
ex-inhabitants visited a local office of the left wing
party, which is a strong presence in this area.

Alternative open spaces are endagered everywhere,not
just in Berlin alone. Since the eviction of of York 59,
the threat against „Schwarze Kanal“,Brunnenstraße
183,Rigaerstr.94, K0pi and many others, the burning of
R84 is at present the most devastating.
The city structuring plans of Neo-liberal ideology
leaves no place for alternative self-managed open/free
space. Especially dirty ones like ours.

We were astoundished by the amount of solidarity actions
that already started in the first hours of the fire. All
coming from friends, strangers, neighbors and other
house projects, in forms of colthing, food, financial
support, etc.. Even local businesses had offered to help
us out in any way they could possible. This help came
out not just from Berlin. Copenhagen, Amsterdam,Dijon,
Barcelona, have all given us moral and/or finacial
support.


Since our core infrastructor has been destroyed by
water and fire, and are left without housing and the
loss of belongings, we are completely dependant on
outside help for our lawyer and processing costs.

We are demanding a political solution that enables us
to continue living out our dreams and ideas of a free,
self-organized community. Its important to keep on
living/organizing together and to contribute to the
subcultural way of life.
THEREFORE WE DEMAND OPEN SPACE!!!! Either back in
our old house, after renovations, or an acceptable
replacement and also for the time inbetween.
We won't tolerate that the politicians remain silent
of the loss of such an important international house
project, which housed 48 people, all of which are
homeless now. Alternative lifestyles are an
unseparatable part of Berlin and we will fight
together for the right of our houses! We do NOT want
to be forced into an escalating situation!

In our point of view, its the duty of those
politically responsible to find an agreeable solution
for the berlin house projects.



ONE STRUGGLE—ONE FIGHT: WE STAY TOGETHER!!!!!!


VIVA LA R84!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please help to raise funds to secure a new housing project for these friends in need.

Donations to:

account details-
account name: krüger & lerch
account number: 05 74 99 79 54
bank code: 100 500 00
bank name: berliner sparkasse

IBAN: DE14 1005 0000 0574 9979 54
BIC/SWIFT: BE LA DE BE