had previously occupied the former headquarters of the Dutch fire brigade in protest. In a press release, the squatters announced on 30 September that they would be handing the building at 99 Weesperzijde over to tenants arranged by the landlord. On the last weekend in September, squatters had camped out on the Dam Square overnight as a protest. On the day itself, there was a demonstration in Amsterdam numbering 100–300 people by various estimates. As evening came, a riot began. The police charged the demonstration and protesters responded by throwing stones and vandalising cars. The police used tear gas and eleven squatters were arrested. Two police officers and three police horses were injured. Protesters built ad hoc street barricades from metal fences and bicycles. There was also a riot in Nijmegen. Post-criminalization On 28 October 2011, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands decided that the legally forced end of squatting can only occur after an intervention of a judge. The Dutch government assessed the effectiveness of the new law in 2015, releasing a report giving statistics on arrests and convictions between October 2010 and December 2014. During this time period, 529 people have been arrested for the act of occupying derelict buildings in 213 separate incidents. Of the 529 arrests, 210 were found guilty. Of those convicted, 39 people were imprisoned for the new offence. The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema called for stricter treatment of squatters in 2019. That year in Amsterdam, 74 squats had been officially recorded, of which 67 had been evicted. Squatters marked the ten year anniversary of the squatting ban on 1 October 2020 in a national campaign placing banners and posters on long-term empty places. In Utrecht, a banner was hung at a building on Burgemeester Reigerstraat which had been evicted in 2019. References Articles containing video clips Law of the Netherlands Squatting in the Netherlands 2010 in the Netherlands Riots and civil disorder in the Netherlands 2010 riots