Squatting#South America

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The practice of squatting historically stems from multiple sources, one of which is the development by illegalist and individualist anarchist groups, such as the Pieds plats, of the concept of déménagement à la cloche de bois ('silent move-outs')—the act of leaving a residence without notifying the landlord and ceasing to pay rent.{{Sfn|Péchu|2010|p=33-39}} This practice became an early precursor to squatting.{{Sfn|Péchu|2010|p=33-39}}

The majority of squatting is residential in nature. As a phenomenon, it tends to occur when a poor and homeless population makes use of derelict property or land through urban homesteading.{{cite magazine |last=Peñalver |first=Eduardo M. |title=Homesteaders in the Hood |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2214544/ |url-status=live |magazine=Slate Magazine |date=March 25, 2009 |access-date=April 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409111231/http://www.slate.com/id/2214544 |archive-date=April 9, 2009}} According to a 2003 estimate by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), there were about one billion people in squatter settlements and slums.{{citation |last=Payne |first=G. |title=Self-Help: Land Development |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080471631000400 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Susan J. |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home |publisher=Elsevier |location=San Diego |pages=297–303 |doi=10.1016/b978-0-08-047163-1.00040-0 |date=2012 |access-date=2021-03-02 |isbn=978-0-08-047171-6 |archive-date=2022-01-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124103522/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080471631000400 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }} According to housing researcher Kesia Reeve, "squatting is largely absent from policy and academic debate and is rarely conceptualised, as a problem, as a symptom, or as a social or housing movement."{{citation |last=Reeve |first=Kesia |chapter=Squatting Since 1945: The enduring relevance of material need |title=Housing and Social Policy |editor1-last=Somerville |editor1-first=Peter |editor2-last=Sprigings |editor2-first=Nigel |publisher=Routledge |location=London |year=2005 |pages=197–216 |isbn=978-0-415-28366-3}}

In many of the world's poorer countries, there are extensive slums or shanty towns, typically built on the edges of major cities and consisting almost entirely of self-constructed housing built without the landowner's permission.[https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3557571 Encroachments and the Mystery of Capital.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808205056/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3557571 |date=2020-08-08}} Political Economy – Development: Domestic Development Strategies eJournal. Social Science Research Network (SSRN). Accessed 16 April 2020. While these settlements may in time become upgraded, they often start off as squats with minimal basic infrastructure. Thus, there is no legal link to sewerage, electricity or water.{{cite news |title=What Is Urban Upgrading? |url=http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/upgrading/whatis/what-is.html |access-date=1 October 2020 |work=The World Bank Group |archive-date=28 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528035826/http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/upgrading/whatis/what-is.html |url-status=live}} Such settlements also exist in industrialized countries, such as for example Cañada Real on the outskirts of Madrid.{{cite news |last=Tremlett |first=Giles |title=Drug clans take control in shanty town where Madrid's politicians fear to tread |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/16/drug-clans-shanty-town-madrid |url-status=live |work=The Guardian |date=16 November 2009 |access-date=1 October 2020 |archive-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003030406/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/16/drug-clans-shanty-town-madrid}}

Squatting can be related to left-wing movements, such as anarchist, autonomist, or socialist. It can be a means to conserve buildings or a protest action. Squats can be used by local communities as free shops, cafés, venues, pirate radio stations or as multi-purpose self-managed social centres.{{cite journal |url=http://repub.eur.nl/pub/25656 |last=Pruijt |first=Hans |title=Logic of Urban Squatting |journal=International Journal of Urban and Regional Research |pages=1–8 |date=2011 |access-date=2015-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305025411/http://repub.eur.nl/pub/25656 |archive-date=2016-03-05 |url-status=live}} Adverse possession, sometimes described as squatter's rights, is a method of acquiring title to property through possession for a statutory period under certain conditions.{{cite web |title=Adverse Possession |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/adverse_possession |website=LII / Legal Information Institute |publisher=Cornell Law School |access-date=1 October 2020 |archive-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003030407/https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/adverse_possession |url-status=live }} Countries where this principle exists include England and the United States, based on common law.{{cite book |editor1-last=Bouckaert |editor1-first=Boudewijn |title=Property law and economics |date=2010 |publisher=Edward Elgar |location=Cheltenham, UK |isbn=9781847205650 |page=183}}{{cite journal |last1=Cobb |first1=Neil |last2=Fox |first2=Lorna |title=Living outside the system? The (im)morality of urban squatting after the Land Registration Act 2002 |journal=Legal Studies |date=June 2007 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=236–260 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-121X.2007.00046.x |s2cid=73585298 |url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/4842/1/4842.pdf |access-date=2020-12-16 |archive-date=2020-12-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217145403/https://dro.dur.ac.uk/4842/1/4842.pdf |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Doskow |first=Emily |title=State-by-State Rules on Adverse Possession |url=https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/state-state-rules-adverse-possession.html |access-date=13 December 2020 |work=www.nolo.com |archive-date=15 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115153805/https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/state-state-rules-adverse-possession.html |url-status=live}}

Anarchist author Colin Ward asserts: "Squatting is the oldest mode of tenure in the world, and we are all descended from squatters. This is as true of the Queen [of the United Kingdom] with her {{convert|176000|acre|km2}} as it is of the 54 percent of householders in Britain who are owner-occupiers. They are all the ultimate recipients of stolen land, for to regard our planet as a commodity offends every conceivable principle of natural rights."{{cite book |last1=Wates |first1=Nick |last2=Wolmar |first2=Christian |author2-link=Christian Wolmar |title=Squatting: the Real Story |date=1980 |publisher=Bay Leaf Books |location=London |isbn=0-9507259-0-0}} Others have a different view; UK police official Sue Williams, for example, has stated that "Squatting is linked to anti-social behaviour and can cause a great deal of nuisance and distress to local residents. In some cases, there may also be criminal activities involved."{{cite press release |title=Statement from Detective Chief Superintendent Sue Williams, Borough Commander and Chair of the Community Safety Partnership |url=http://www2.redbridge.gov.uk/cms/council_tax_benefits_housing/housing/strategy_and_development/empty_properties/police_statement_on_squatting.aspx |publisher=London Borough of Redbridge |date=2012-01-20 |access-date=2012-03-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516065913/http://www2.redbridge.gov.uk/cms/council_tax_benefits_housing/housing/strategy_and_development/empty_properties/police_statement_on_squatting.aspx |archive-date=2012-05-16}} The public attitude toward squatting varies, depending on legal aspects, socioeconomic conditions, and the type of housing occupied by squatters. In particular, while squatting of municipal buildings may be treated leniently, squatting of private property can often lead to strongly negative reactions on the part of the general public and the authorities.{{cite web |last=Elms |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Elms |title=Squatting: The need for shelter versus property rights |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-15776450 |url-status=live |publisher=BBC News |date=November 22, 2011 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117052313/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-15776450 |archive-date=November 17, 2018}}

File:No Forvced Removals.jpg protest in Durban]]

In African countries such as Nigeria, informal settlements are created by migration from rural areas to urban areas. Reasons for squatting include the lack of low cost housing, unemployment and inability to access loans.{{cite journal |last1=Ebekozien |first1=Andrew |last2=Abdul-Aziz |first2=Abdul-Rashid |last3=Jaafar |first3=Mastura |title=Low-cost housing policies and squatters struggles in Nigeria: the Nigerian perspective on possible solutions |journal=International Journal of Construction Management |date=9 April 2019 |volume=21 |issue=11 |pages=1088–1098 |doi=10.1080/15623599.2019.1602586|s2cid=159289078 }} In 1995, almost 70% of the population of the Nigerian capital Lagos were living in slums.{{cite news |title=Implementation Completion and Results Report (IDA-42190) on a Credit in the Amount of SDR 138.10 Million (USD200.00 Million Equivalent) to the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance Project |url=http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/872021468290442515/pdf/ICR29680P071340IC0disclosed04040140.pdf |access-date=28 February 2021 |work=World Bank Report ICR00002968 |date=2014 |page=1 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225152909/http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/872021468290442515/pdf/ICR29680P071340IC0disclosed04040140.pdf |url-status=live }} The City of the Dead slum is a well-known squatter community in Cairo, Egypt.{{cite book |last=Sims |first=David |title=Understanding Cairo: The logic of a city out of control |publisher=The American University in Cairo Press |location=Cairo |date=2010 |isbn=978-9774164040}} Between 1955 and 1975, the Cairo authorities built 39,000 public housing apartments but 2 million people moved there, mostly ending up in informal housing. In Alexandria, Egypt's second city, public housing was only 0.5% of the total housing stock, whereas informal housing was 68%.{{cite book |last1=Hardoy |first1=Jorge Enrique |last2=Satterthwaite |first2=David |title=Squatter citizen: Life in the urban third world |publisher=Earthscan |location=London |date=1989 |isbn=978-1-85383-020-4}}{{rp|108}} An estimated 3,500 people live in the Grande Hotel Beira in Mozambique.{{cite news |title=In pictures: The squatters of Mozambique's Grande Hotel |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-36092920 |url-status=live |publisher=BBC News |date=21 April 2016 |access-date=1 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003030419/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36092920 |archive-date=3 October 2020}} Informal settlements in Zambia, particularly around Lusaka, are known as kombonis.{{cite book |last=Myers |first=Garth |title=Urban Environments in Africa: A Critical Analysis of Environmental Politics |publisher=Policy Press |year= 2016 |isbn=978-1-4473-2292-4}} As of 2011, 64% of Zambians lived below the poverty line, whilst the United Nations predicted a 941% population increase by 2100.{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Georgina |title=Population growth in Zambia: A view from the slums |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/oct/24/population-growth-zambia-slums |work=The Guardian |date=24 October 2011 |access-date=21 December 2020 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112024331/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/oct/24/population-growth-zambia-slums |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Rogers |first=Simon |title=World population by country: UN guesses the shape of the world by 2100 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/may/06/world-population-country-un |work=The Guardian |date=6 May 2011 |access-date=21 December 2020 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112015934/http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/may/06/world-population-country-un |url-status=live }}

Derelict swimming pool at the [[Ducor Hotel (Liberia)|alt=Abandoned porn|thumb|right]]

In Liberia, squatting is one of three ways to access land, the other being ownership by deed or customary ownership.{{cite journal |last1=Alfaro |first1=Jose F. |last2=Jones |first2=Brieland |title=Social and environmental impacts of charcoal production in Liberia: Evidence from the field |journal=Energy for Sustainable Development |date=2018 |volume=47 |pages=124–132 |doi=10.1016/j.esd.2018.09.004|bibcode=2018ESusD..47..124A |s2cid=158551971 }} West Point was founded in Monrovia in the 1950s and is estimated to house between 29,500 and 75,000 people.{{cite book |last1=Tipple |first1=Graham |title=Liberia: Housing profile |date=2014 |publisher=UN-Habitat |location=Nairobi, Kenya |isbn=978-92-1-132626-0 |url=http://www.iut.nu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Liberian-Housing-Profile.pdf |access-date=2021-04-28 |archive-date=2021-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417213057/http://www.iut.nu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Liberian-Housing-Profile.pdf |url-status=live }} During the First Liberian Civil War 1989–1997 and the Second Liberian Civil War 1999–2003, many people in Liberia were displaced and some ended up squatting in Monrovia.{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Rhodri C. |title=Durable Solutions and Development-Induced Displacement in Monrovia, Liberia |date=2011 |publisher=Norwegian Refugee Council |url=https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/durable-solutions-and-development-induced-displacement-in-monrovia-liberia.pdf |access-date=2021-04-28 |archive-date=2021-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417225425/https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/durable-solutions-and-development-induced-displacement-in-monrovia-liberia.pdf |url-status=live }} The Ducor Hotel fell into disrepair and was squatted, before being evicted in 2007.{{cite web |last1=Minister of Information |title=President Sirleaf Directs Justice Minister to Evict Squatters from Ducor |url=http://www.micat.gov.lr/press.php?news_id=24 |access-date=17 April 2021 |date=3 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070503162356/http://www.micat.gov.lr/press.php?news_id=24 |archive-date=2007-05-03 }} Recently, over 9,000 Burkinabés were squatting on remote land and the Liberia Land Authority (LLA) has announced it will be titling all land in the country.{{cite news |last1=Carter |first1=J. Burgess |title=More than 9,000 Burkinabes Illegally Squatting in Grand Gedeh |url=https://www.liberianobserver.com/news/more-than-9k-burkinabes-illegally-occupying-land-in-grand-gedeh/ |access-date=17 April 2021 |work=Daily Observer |date=28 August 2020 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417213057/https://www.liberianobserver.com/news/more-than-9k-burkinabes-illegally-occupying-land-in-grand-gedeh/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Obediah |title=Government of Liberia Launches Processes Leading to Digitization And Systematic Land Titling |url=https://frontpageafricaonline.com/news/government-of-liberia-launches-processes-leading-to-digitization-and-systematic-land-titling/ |access-date=17 April 2021 |work=Front Page Africa |date=18 January 2021 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417210951/https://frontpageafricaonline.com/news/government-of-liberia-launches-processes-leading-to-digitization-and-systematic-land-titling/ |url-status=live }}

In South Africa, squatters tend to live in informal settlements or squatter camps on the outskirts of the larger cities, often but not always near townships. In the mid-1990s, an estimated 7.7 million South Africans lived in informal settlements: a fifth of the country's population.{{cite journal |last=Saff |first=Grant |title=Claiming a Space in a Changing South Africa: The 'Squatters' of Marconi Beam, Cape Town |journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers |volume=86 |issue=2 |pages=235–255 |date=1996 |issn=0004-5608 |jstor=2564004 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8306.1996.tb01752.x}} The figure was estimated to be 15 million in 2004. In Cape Town and Durban, there have been sustained conflict between the city council and a shack dwellers' movement known as Abahlali baseMjondolo. The organisation has represented the squatters in land occupations such as the Macassar Village in 2009 and the Cape Town and Durban Marikana land occupations in 2013 (both named after the Marikana massacre).{{cite news |last1=Elliott |first1=Caroline |title=South Africa's poor resist home attacks |url=https://www.redpepper.org.uk/south-africas-poor-resist-home-attacks/ |access-date=17 December 2020 |work=Red Pepper |date=10 May 2013 |archive-date=17 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217145349/https://www.redpepper.org.uk/south-africas-poor-resist-home-attacks/ |url-status=live }} It also successfully challenged the KZN Slums Act, which sought to mandate the eviction of slums but was eventually declared unconstitutional.{{cite journal |last1=Selmeczi |first1=Anna |title='From shack to the Constitutional Court'The litigious disruption of governing global cities |journal=Utrecht Law Review |date=14 April 2011 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=60 |doi=10.18352/ulr.162|doi-access=free }}

There have been a number of similar conflicts between shack dwellers, some linked with the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, and the city council in Cape Town. One of the most high-profile cases was the eviction of squatters in the N2 Gateway homes in the suburb of Delft, where over 20 residents were shot, including a three-year-old child. There have been numerous complaints about the legality of the government's actions.{{cite news|url=http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=489|title=No compassion for people who do not drive a Porsche?|publisher=Constitutionally Speaking|access-date=2019-04-30|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714105841/http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=489|archive-date=2012-07-14|url-status=live}} Many of the families then squatted on Symphony Way, a main road in the township of Delft, before being forced to move to a camp called Blikkiesdorp.{{cite news |last1=Lali |first1=Vincent |title=Blikkiesdorp residents frustrated by housing delays |url=https://www.groundup.org.za/article/blikkiesdorp-residents-frustrated-housing-delays/ |access-date=30 April 2019 |work=Ground Up |date=29 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430210539/https://www.groundup.org.za/article/blikkiesdorp-residents-frustrated-housing-delays/ |archive-date=30 April 2019 |url-status=live }}

Squatting in Sudan is defined as the "acquisition and construction of land, within the city boundaries for the purpose of housing in contradiction to Urban Planning and Land laws and building regulations."{{cite web |last1=Gamie |first1=Sumaia Omer Moh. |title=Tackling Squatter Settlements in Sudanese Cities (SSISC) |url=https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/12679gamie.pdf |website=High Level Symposium on Sustainable Cities |publisher=United Nations |access-date=28 March 2021 |archive-date=18 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318021646/https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/12679gamie.pdf |url-status=live }} These informal settlements arose in Khartoum from the 1920s onwards, swelling in the 1960s. By the 1980s, the government was clearing settlements in Khartoum and regularizing them elsewhere. It was estimated that in 2015 that were 200,000 squatters in Khartoum, 180,000 in Nyala, 60,000 in Kassala, 70,000 in Port Sudan and 170,000 in Wad Madani.

Land squats occurred in what would become Zimbabwe in the 1970s and were routinely evicted. Only Epworth persisted on account of its size (around 50,000 people).{{cite journal |last1=Mpofu |first1=Busani |title=Perpetual 'Outcasts'? Squatters in peri-urban Bulawayo, Zimbabwe |journal=Afrika Focus |date=14 September 2012 |volume=25 |issue=2 |doi=10.21825/af.v25i2.4946|doi-access=free }} After Zimbabwe was created in 1980, peasant farmers and squatters disputed the distribution of land. Informal settlements have developed on the periphery of cities such as Chitungwiza and the capital Harare.{{cite news |last1=Matabvu |first1=Debra |last2=Agere |first2=Harmony |title=Squatters: Housing shortages or lawlessness? |url=https://www.sundaymail.co.zw/squatters-housing-shortages-or-lawlessness |access-date=18 April 2021 |work=The Sunday Mail |date=11 January 2015 |archive-date=8 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108064116/http://www.sundaymail.co.zw/squatters-housing-shortages-or-lawlessness/ |url-status=live }} In 2005, Operation Murambatsvina ("Operation Drive Out Filth") organised by President Robert Mugabe evicted an estimated 700,000 people and affected over two million people.{{cite news |title=Zimbabwe: Mugabe's clean-up victims flock back to squatter camps – Zimbabwe |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/zimbabwe/zimbabwe-mugabes-clean-victims-flock-back-squatter-camps |access-date=18 April 2021 |work=Zim Online |date=21 September 2005 |language=en |archive-date=17 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210317212532/https://reliefweb.int/report/zimbabwe/zimbabwe-mugabes-clean-victims-flock-back-squatter-camps |url-status=live }}

Israeli settlements are communities of Israeli citizens living in the Palestinian territories. The international community considers the settlements in occupied territory to be illegal,{{cite journal|title=Prolonged Military Occupation: The Israeli-Occupied Territories Since 1967|last=Roberts|first=Adam|s2cid=145514740|author-link=Adam Roberts (scholar)|journal=The American Journal of International Law|volume=84|issue=1|publisher=American Society of International Law|pages=85–86|quote=The international community has taken a critical view of both deportations and settlements as being contrary to international law.|doi=10.2307/2203016|jstor=2203016|year=1990}}{{cite book|title=The Italian Yearbook of International Law|volume=14|year=2005|editor1-last=Conforti|editor1-first=Benedetto|editor2-last=Bravo|editor2-first=Luigi|first=Marco|last=Pertile|chapter='Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory': A Missed Opportunity for International Humanitarian Law?|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|isbn=978-90-04-15027-0|page=141|quote=the establishment of the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has been considered illegal by the international community and by the majority of legal scholars.}}

In March 2018, Israeli settlers were evicted from a house they had illegally occupied in Hebron, a Palestinian city in the West Bank. The fifteen families had argued that they had bought the house, but the High Court of Justice ruled that they had to leave. The Israel Defense Forces declared the building a closed military zone and it was unclear if the Palestinian owners could regain possession. The settlers had already occupied the house and been evicted in 2012.{{cite news |last1=Magid |first1=Jacob |title=Settlers evacuate disputed Hebron building after squatting for 8 months |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/settlers-evacuate-disputed-hebron-building-after-squatting-for-8-months/ |access-date=13 May 2019 |work=Times of Israel |date=22 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526070328/https://www.timesofisrael.com/settlers-evacuate-disputed-hebron-building-after-squatting-for-8-months/ |archive-date=26 May 2019 |url-status=live }} In October 2018, Fatou Bensouda, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court stated that Israel's planned demolition of Bedouin village Khan al-Ahmar could constitute a war crime.{{cite news |last1=TOI Staff |title=Hague prosecutor issues war crime warning on Bedouin village demolition |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/hague-prosecutor-issues-war-crime-warning-on-bedouin-village-demolition/ |access-date=13 May 2019 |work=Times of Israel |date=17 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525230226/https://www.timesofisrael.com/hague-prosecutor-issues-war-crime-warning-on-bedouin-village-demolition/ |archive-date=25 May 2019 |url-status=live }}

Gecekondu is a Turkish word meaning a house put up quickly without proper permissions, a squatter's house, and by extension, a shanty or shack. From the 1960s onwards, these settlements have provided a means of housing for poor workers and new migrants arriving in cities such as Ankara and Istanbul.{{rp|89}} From the 1980s onwards, property developers have upgraded many gecekondu areas.{{cite web |last1=Esen |first1=Orhan |title=Istanbul's Gecekondus |url=http://lsecities.net/media/objects/articles/istanbuls-gecekondus |publisher=LSE Cities |access-date=1 October 2020 |date=22 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022184541/http://lsecities.net/media/objects/articles/istanbuls-gecekondus |archive-date=2013-10-22}} Shortly after the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, Don Kişot (Don Quixote) was squatted in the Kadıköy district. It was stated to be the city's first occupied and self-managed social centre;{{cite news |title=From Madrid to Istanbul: Occupying Public Space |url=https://roarmag.org/essays/madrid-istanbul-occupy-squat/ |url-status=live |publisher=ROAR Magazine |date=2014-01-12 |access-date=2016-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924072723/https://roarmag.org/essays/madrid-istanbul-occupy-squat/ |archive-date=2016-09-24}} Caferağa Mahalle Evi (community centre Caferağa), also in Kadıköy, was squatted soon afterwards and evicted in December 2014.{{cite book |last1=Konak |first1=Nahide |last2=Dönmez |first2=Rasim Özgür |title=Waves of Social Movement Mobilizations in the Twenty-First Century: Challenges to the Neo-Liberal World Order and Democracy |year= 2015 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-9636-6 |page=92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J7n0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA91 |access-date=1 October 2020}}{{cite web|title=English :: Caferağa Neighborhood House Evicted by Police|url=https://bianet.org/english/print/160635-caferaga-neighborhood-house-evicted-by-police|access-date=2021-03-02|website=bianet.org|archive-date=2016-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160830091516/http://bianet.org/english/print/160635-caferaga-neighborhood-house-evicted-by-police|url-status=live}} A place was occupied in Beşiktaş district of Istanbul on March 18, 2014, and named Berkin Elvan Student House, after a 15-year-old boy who was shot during the Gezi protests and later died.{{cite news |url=http://bianet.org/english/youth/154283-berkin-elvan-student-house-opens-in-istanbul |title="Berkin Elvan Student House" Opens in Istanbul |publisher=BIA news desk |date=2014-03-19 |access-date=2016-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915052929/http://bianet.org/english/youth/154283-berkin-elvan-student-house-opens-in-istanbul |archive-date=2016-09-15 |url-status=live }} Atopya was squatted in Ankara in June 2014 by anarchists, who claimed it was the city's first political squat.{{cite news |url=http://sosyalsavas.org/2014/05/atopya-ankara-da-isgal-evi/ |title=Atopya: Ankara' da İşgal Evi |publisher=Sosyalsavas |date=2014-05-24 |access-date=2016-08-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506025638/http://sosyalsavas.org/2014/05/atopya-ankara-da-isgal-evi/ |archive-date=2016-05-06 |url-status=live }}

{{further|Squatting in Asia}}

Squatters in Malaysia live on both privately owned and government-owned land.{{cite news |last1=Menon |first1=Priya |title=Pasar Sentul squatters face an uncertain future |url=https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2009/08/12/pasar-sentul-squatters-face-an-uncertain-future |access-date=13 May 2019 |work=The Star |date=12 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513175742/https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2009/08/12/pasar-sentul-squatters-face-an-uncertain-future/ |archive-date=13 May 2019 |url-status=live }} Some squatters have lived on land owned by national electricity company Tenaga Nasional for over five decades.{{cite news |last1=Menon |first1=Priya |title=Sentul squatters want to escape urban squalor |url=https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2009/07/15/sentul-squatters-want-to-escape-urban-squalor/ |access-date=13 May 2019 |work=The Star |date=15 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513175723/https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2009/07/15/sentul-squatters-want-to-escape-urban-squalor/ |archive-date=13 May 2019 |url-status=live }} Squatters in Indonesia live on both privately owned and government-owned land. For example, the former {{ill|Kalisosok Prison|id|Penjara Kalisosok}} in Surabaya has been squatted since 2000s after being used as a prison for over 100 years.{{cite web|title=Begini Rasanya Ngekos di Bekas Sel Penjara Paling Mengerikan di Surabaya|url=https://www.vice.com/id/article/begini-rasanya-ngekos-di-bekas-sel-penjara-paling-mengerikan-surabaya/|work=Vice Indonesia|language=id|date=25 March 2019|access-date=1 September 2020|archive-date=7 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907102139/https://www.vice.com/amp/id_id/article/yw89nj/begini-rasanya-ngekos-di-bekas-sel-penjara-paling-mengerikan-surabaya|url-status=live}} In Thailand, although evictions have reduced their visibility or numbers in urban areas, many squatters still occupy land near railroad tracks, under overpasses, and waterways. Commercial squatting is common in Thailand, where businesses temporarily seize nearby public real estate (such as sidewalks, roadsides, beaches, etc.) and roll out their enterprise, and at closing time they fold it in and lock it up, thus avoiding the extra cost of having to rent more property.{{cite journal |last1=Yasmeen |first1=Gisèle |last2=Narumol |first2=Nirathron |title=Vending in Public Space: The Case of Bangkok |journal=WIEGO Policy Brief |date=2014 |issue=16 |pages=13–15 |url=http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Yasmeen-Vending-Public-Space-Bangkok-WIEGO-PB16.pdf |access-date=19 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420143528/http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Yasmeen-Vending-Public-Space-Bangkok-WIEGO-PB16.pdf |archive-date=20 April 2017 |url-status=dead }} In the early 2000s, the government estimated that 37% of the population lived in low-income urban communities, over half of which were squatting public land or renting precariously. The National Housing Authority stated over 100,000 families were living under threat of immediate eviction.{{rp|26}}

In China, informal settlements are known as urban villages.{{cite book|last1=Liu|first1=Yuting|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230299122_10|title=Marginalization in Urban China: Comparative Perspectives|last2=He|first2=Shenjing|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|year=2010|isbn=978-0-230-29912-2|pages=177–200|chapter=Chinese Urban Villages as Marginalized Neighbourhoods under Rapid Urbanization|doi=10.1057/9780230299122_10|access-date=1 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003030407/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230299122_10|archive-date=3 October 2020|url-status=live}} Squatter settlements occurred in Hong Kong in 1946, after its wartime occupation by Japan.{{cite book|last=Madokoro|first=Laura|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYsrDQAAQBAJ|title=Elusive Refuge|year=2016|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-97385-5|page=37|access-date=2020-12-25|archive-date=2023-02-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205114627/https://books.google.com/books?id=xYsrDQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} After 700,000 people migrated from mainland China to Hong Kong between 1949 and 1950; the squatter population was estimated at 300,000, with people sleeping wherever they could find a space. A fire at Shek Kip Mei in December 1953 resulted in over 50,000 slum-dwellers being left homeless.{{cite book|last1=Madokoro|first1=Laura|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYsrDQAAQBAJ|title=Elusive Refuge|year=2016|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-97385-5|page=48|access-date=2020-12-25|archive-date=2023-02-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205114627/https://books.google.com/books?id=xYsrDQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} Rooftop slums then developed, when people began to live illegally on the roofs of urban buildings.{{cite news|last=Shadbolt|first=Peter|date=2 November 2011|title=Slums with penthouse views highlight Hong Kong's wealth divide|publisher=CNN|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/01/world/asia/hongkong-rooftop-slums/|access-date=21 December 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105075758/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/01/world/asia/hongkong-rooftop-slums/|archive-date=2013-11-05}} In addition, the Kowloon Walled City became an area for squatters, housing up to 50,000 people in Hong Kong.{{Cite web|date=2019-03-18|title=Life Inside The Most Densely Populated Place On Earth [Infographic]|url=https://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-04/life-inside-most-densely-populated-place-earth-infographic/|access-date=2021-05-24|website=Popular Science|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-09-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907003630/http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-04/life-inside-most-densely-populated-place-earth-infographic|url-status=live}}

File:Street dwellers in Mumbai.jpeg

In Mumbai, India, there are an estimated 10 to 12 million inhabitants, and six million of them are squatters. The squatters live in a variety of ways. Some possess two- or three-story homes built out of brick and concrete which they have inhabited for years. Geeta Nagar is a squatter village based beside the Indian Navy compound at Colaba. Squatter Colony in Malad East has existed since 1962, and now, people living there pay a rent to the city council of 100 rupees a month. Dharavi is a community of one million squatters. The stores and factories situated there are mainly illegal and so are unregulated, but it is suggested that they do over $1 million in business every day.Neuwirth, R (2004) Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World, pp. 110–114. Routledge {{ISBN|0-415-93319-6}} Other squatters are pavement dwellers, with very few possessions. Activists such as Jockin Arputham, Prema Gopalan and Sheela Patel are working for better living conditions for slum dwellers, through organisations such as Mahila Milan and Slum Dwellers International.{{cite journal |last1=Patel |first1=Sheela |last2=Mitlin |first2=Diana |title=The work of SPARC, the National Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan |journal=Working Paper Series on Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas |date=2001 |volume=5 |url=https://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/9074IIED.pdf |access-date=7 November 2020 |archive-date=11 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411103717/http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/9074IIED.pdf |url-status=live }} In the 2016 Mathura clash, members of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi (Free India Legal Ideas Revolutionary Protesters) who had been living in Mathura's largest public park Jawahar Bagh for two years were evicted in a large police operation. At least 24 squatters were killed.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36441938 |title=India squatters: At least 24 killed in Mathura eviction drive |publisher=BBC News |date=3 June 2016 |access-date=27 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727131707/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36441938 |archive-date=27 July 2019 |url-status=live}}

After World War II many people were left homeless in the Philippines and they built makeshift houses called "barong-barong" on abandoned private land.{{cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Manila#ref360828|title=Manila|newspaper=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2017-01-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118211348/https://www.britannica.com/place/Manila#ref360828|archive-date=2017-01-18|url-status=live}} The first mass eviction on record in Manila was 1951 and the largest was in late 1963 and early 1964 when 90,000 people were displaced.{{rp|43}} By 1978, there were estimated to be two million squatters in Manila, occupying 415 different locations.{{rp|77}} The number of squatters grew during the early 1980s, and attempts to relocate squatters to low-cost housing projects were made by the national government. The sites were not received well, as it moved people far away from their employment and social networks.{{rp|45}} Projects included the redevelopment of the former Smokey Mountain landfill in Tondo, the BLISS housing project in Taguig, and the establishment of Barangay Bagong Silang as a resettlement area for slum dwellers residing in Manila. Philippine law distinguishes between squatters who squat because of poverty and those who squat in hopes of getting a payment to leave the property.{{cite act |title=Republic Act No. 7279 – An Act to Provide for a Comprehensive and Continuing Urban Development and Housing Program, Establish the Mechanism for its Implementation, and for Other Purposes |publisher=Chan Robles Law Library |type=Republic Act |number=7279 |article=I |date=March 24, 1992 |url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/03/24/republic-act-no-7279/ |accessdate=March 2, 2016 |archive-date=November 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109053552/http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/03/24/republic-act-no-7279/ |url-status=live }} {{Cite web |url=http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/03/24/republic-act-no-7279/ |title=Republic Act No. 7279 | Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines |work=Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines |access-date=September 7, 2020 |archive-date=November 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109053552/http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/03/24/republic-act-no-7279/ |url-status=bot: unknown }} In 1982, Imelda Marcos referred to the latter group as "professional squatters [...] plain land-grabbers taking advantage of the compassionate society".{{rp|46}} Philippines-based media and journalists refer to squatters as "informal settlers".{{cite news |author= |date=September 6, 2014 |title=From 'Squatters' Into 'Informal Settlers' |url=http://philrights.org/from-squatters-into-informal-settlers/ |website=Philippine Human Rights Information Center |location=Pinyahan, Quezon City |access-date=March 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123154139/http://philrights.org/from-squatters-into-informal-settlers/ |archive-date=November 23, 2018 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news |last=Shahani |first=Lila Ramos |date=April 10, 2012 |title=Manila's biggest challenge |url=http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/3305-manila-s-biggest-challenge |website=Rappler |department=Views |location=Oranbo, Pasig |access-date=March 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301044054/http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/3305-manila-s-biggest-challenge |archive-date=March 1, 2016 |url-status=live}} The Community Mortgage Program was set up in 1992, aiming to help low-income families transition from squatting to affordable housing. By 2001, around 106,000 families had found secure housing in over 800 separate communities.{{cite book |last1=Mitlin |first1=Diana |last2=Satterthwaite |first2=David |title=Empowering squatter citizen: Local government, civil society, and urban poverty reduction |date=2004 |publisher=Earthscan |location=London |isbn=978-1-84407-101-2}}{{rp|54}}

File:Rozbrat rowerownia.jpg.]]

The trajectory of squatting in central and eastern Europe is different from that of western Europe because, until recently, countries were part of the Communist Bloc and squatting is generally not tolerated.

• The first public squat in Romania was Carol 53 in Bucharest, occupied in 2012 by artists. This was a controversial project because in running the project, the artists evicted a Roma family which was already silently squatting there.{{cite book |editor-last1=Anders |editor-first1=Freia |editor-last2=Sedlmaier |editor-first2=Alexander |last1=Florea |first1=Ioana |last2=Dumitriu |first2=Mihail|chapter= Living on the Edge: The Ambiguities of Squatting and Urban Development in Bucharest|title=Public Goods versus Economic Interests: Global Perspectives on the History of Squatting |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-32966-9}}
• In Moldova, homeless people live in state-run shelters or squatter camps.{{cite journal |last1=Negură |first1=Petru |title=The State Policy towards the Homeless in Moldova between the 'Left Hand' and the 'Right Hand'. The Case of Chișinău Shelter |journal=Südosteuropa |date=26 June 2019 |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=175–195 |doi=10.1515/soeu-2019-0013|s2cid=195789336 }} Squatters in Centro 73, Moldova's first squatted, self-managed social centre, attempted to prevent the historical building's demolition, but were quickly evicted and given another building for art events.{{cite web |last1=Caucaso |first1=Osservatorio Balcani e |title=Moldavia: Chișinău underground |url=https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/aree/Moldavia/Moldavia-Chi-inau-underground-170763 |website=OBC Transeuropa |access-date=7 November 2020 |language=it |archive-date=16 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616174747/http://www.balcanicaucaso.org/aree/Moldavia/Moldavia-Chi-inau-underground-170763 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Un grup de tineri a protestat azi împotriva demolării unei clădiri istorice din Capitală |url=https://www.publika.md/un-grup-de-tineri-a-protestat-azi-impotriva-demolarii-unei-cladiri-istorice-din-capitala_130711.html |access-date=4 October 2020 |work=Publika |date=1 November 2010 |language=ro |archive-date=2 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120602083920/http://www.publika.md/un-grup-de-tineri-a-protestat-azi-impotriva-demolarii-unei-cladiri-istorice-din-capitala_130711.html |url-status=live }}
• The oldest squat in Poland, Rozbrat, was founded in 1994 through the occupation of a former paint factory in Poznań. There are also squats in Białystok, Gdańsk, Gliwice, Warsaw and Wrocław.{{cite book |last1=Piotrowski |first1=Grzegorz |year= 2014|chapter=Squatting in the East: The Rozbrat squat in Poland, 1994–2012 |editor1-last=Katzeff |editor1-first=Ask |editor2-last= van Hoogenhuijze|editor2-first= Leendert |editor3-last=van der Steen |editor3-first=Bart |title= The City Is Ours: Squatting and Autonomous Movements in Europe from the 1970s to the Present |language= en |publisher= PM Press |isbn= 978-1-60486-683-4}}
• In Slovenia, the capital Ljubljana has an occupied former military barracks called Metelkova and the recently evicted former bicycle factory called Rog.{{cite journal |last1=Siegrist |first1=Nathan |last2=Thörn |first2=Håkan |title=Metelkova as Autonomous Heterotopia |journal=Antipode |date=November 2020 |volume=52 |issue=6 |pages=1837–1856 |doi=10.1111/anti.12677|bibcode=2020Antip..52.1837S |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Ehrlich |first1=Kornelia |title=Conflicting Visions of Urban Regeneration in a New Political and Economic Order |journal=Anthropological Journal of European Cultures |date=1 September 2012 |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=68–88 |doi=10.3167/ajec.2012.210208 |url=https://ul.qucosa.de/api/qucosa%3A74187/attachment/ATT-0/ |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-date=16 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210716082915/https://ul.qucosa.de/api/qucosa%3A74187/attachment/ATT-0/ |url-status=live }}
• Croatia has social centres such as the former Karlo Rojc barracks in Pula and (AKC) Medika in Zagreb.{{cite web |title=Culture center Rojc Pula |url=https://www.pulacroatia.net/item/culture-center-rojc-pula/ |website=Pula Croatia |access-date=8 December 2021 |archive-date=8 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208165246/https://www.pulacroatia.net/item/culture-center-rojc-pula/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=McDonnell |first1=Justin |title=The best venues for live music in Zagreb |url=https://www.timeout.com/croatia/music/the-best-live-music-venues-in-zagreb |access-date=8 December 2021 |work=Time Out Croatia |archive-date=7 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207124302/https://www.timeout.com/croatia/music/the-best-live-music-venues-in-zagreb |url-status=live }}
• In Serbia, shacks to be built as second homes or Roma people occupy buildings.{{cite web |last1=Drofenik |first1=Maša |title=Intra-team Comparison Report for CROATIA, SERBIA, SLOVENIA |url=https://www.uni-bremen.de/fileadmin/user_upload/fachbereiche/fb6/fb6/Forschung/ZERP/TENLAW/IntrateamCom/HR-RS-SI_comparison_report_20150203.pdf |website=Bremen University |publisher=TENLAW: Tenancy Law and Housing Policy in Multi-level Europe |access-date=5 March 2021 |archive-date=13 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613174819/https://www.uni-bremen.de/fileadmin/user_upload/fachbereiche/fb6/fb6/Forschung/ZERP/TENLAW/IntrateamCom/HR-RS-SI_comparison_report_20150203.pdf |url-status=live }} A large Roma informal settlement called Cardboard city was evicted in 2009.{{cite news |last1=Glavonjić |first1=Zoran |title=U Beogradu raseljen "Karton siti" |url=https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/karton_siti_raseljen/1811649.html |access-date=12 March 2021 |work=Radio Slobodna Evropa |date=31 August 2009 |language=sh |archive-date=23 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523023819/https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/karton_siti_raseljen/1811649.html |url-status=live }}

In 1980s Soviet Russia, there was a practice used by artists and musicians to acquire communal rooms and then expand into other rooms. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there were many collectively organised housing occupations by families and refugees. The groups would attempt to legalise in some cases and not in others. There were also art squats, for example, in Saint Petersburg, there were Pushkinskaya 10, Na Fontanke and Synovia doktora Pelia.{{cite journal |last1=Golova|first1=Tatiana |title=Squatting and the moral economy of public-private relations |journal=Baltic Worlds |url=http://balticworlds.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/BW-1-2-2016-open-access.pdf |pages=57–66 |access-date=2021-01-07 |archive-date=2018-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412103404/http://balticworlds.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/BW-1-2-2016-open-access.pdf |url-status=live }} In the early 1990s, the Government of Moscow prepared to renovate buildings, but then ran out of money, meaning that squatters occupied prime real estate. By 1996, 40 percent of Tverskaya Street was rented illegally or squatted.{{cite news |last1=Simon |first1=Stephanie |title=With Public Buildings Occupied Rent-Free, Russia Is Losing Millions; A St. Petersburg girls' home is just one tenant benefiting from property market chaos. Squatters abound in Moscow. |work=Los Angeles Times |date=27 March 1996}}

Squatting in the Czech Republic began in its modern form when anarchist and punk activists inspired by squatting movements in Amsterdam and Berlin occupied derelict houses following the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Ladronka (1993–2000) became internationally famous as a hub for counter-cultural activities and anarchist organisation.{{cite journal |last1=Novák |first1=Arnošt |last2=Pixová |first2=Michaela |title=Prague Post-1989: Boom, decline and renaissance |journal=Baltic Worlds |url=http://balticworlds.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/BW-1-2-2016-open-access.pdf |pages=34–45 |access-date=2020-10-04 |archive-date=2018-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412103404/http://balticworlds.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/BW-1-2-2016-open-access.pdf |url-status=live }} Squat Milada was occupied in 1997 and evicted in 2009. Its longevity was in part due to the building not existing in the cadastre.{{cite book|editor1-last=Squatting Everywhere Kollective |last1=Trnka |first1=Jan |last2=Novák |first2=Arnošt|chapter=Squatting in Prague |title=Fighting for spaces, fighting for our lives: Squatting movements today |date=2018 |publisher=edition assemblage |location=Münster |isbn=978-3-942885-90-4 |pages=151–166 |edition=1}} Klinika was an occupied social centre between 2014 and 2019.{{cite journal |last1=Novák |first1=Arnošt |title=Every city needs a Klinika: The struggle for autonomy in the post-political city |journal=Social Movement Studies |date=28 May 2020 |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=276–291 |doi=10.1080/14742837.2020.1770070|s2cid=219746673 }} These three social centres, all in Prague, were the city's three most important political squats.{{cite journal |last2=Novák |first2=Arnošt |last1=Kuřík |first1=Bob |title=Rethinking radical activism: Heterogeneity and dynamics of political squatting in Prague after 1989 |journal=Journal of Urban Affairs |date=17 February 2020 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=203–221 |doi=10.1080/07352166.2019.1565820|s2cid=159082940 }}

File:AnarchistSquatDemoGreece.jpg

Starting from December 2012, Greek Police initiated extensive raids in a number of squats in Athens, arresting and charging with offences all illegal occupants (mostly anarchists). Squats including Villa Amalia were evicted.{{cite web |url=http://news.in.gr/greece/article/?aid=1231229922 |title=Στον ανακριτή ανά ομάδες οι 92 συλληφθέντες από τη βίλα Αμαλίας |work=in.gr |date=January 10, 2013 |access-date=2013-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113043636/http://news.in.gr/greece/article/?aid=1231229922 |archive-date=January 13, 2013 |url-status=live }} A march in support of the 92 arrestees drew between 3,000 and 8,000 people.{{cite news |last1=Dabilis |first1=Andy |title=Anarchists Rally Supports Squatters Rights |url=https://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/01/12/anarchists-rally-supports-squatters-rights/ |access-date=20 April 2019 |date=12 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420202054/https://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/01/12/anarchists-rally-supports-squatters-rights/ |archive-date=20 April 2019 |url-status=live }} After Villa Amalia, Villa Skaramanga and then Villa Lela Karagianni were evicted. Lela Karagianni had been squatted since 1998 and was later reoccupied.{{cite book |last1=Cappuccini |first1=Monia |title=Austerity & Democracy in Athens: Crisis and Community in Exarchia |date=2017 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-319-64127-0 |page=52}} The name came from the street, named for a Greek World War II resistance leader of that name. From 2015 onwards Athens has seen refugee squats in response to the European migrant crisis which are anarchist and self-organised.{{Cite journal|last1=Maniatis|first1=Giorgos|title=From a Crisis of Management to Humanitarian Crisis Management|journal=South Atlantic Quarterly|volume=117|issue=4|pages=905–913|date=October 2018|doi=10.1215/00382876-7166068|s2cid=76653388|issn=0038-2876}} In 2019, several squats in Exarcheia were evicted by the Greek state. Some of the migrants evicted set up a camp outside the Parliament at Syntagma Square.{{cite news |title=Refugees evicted from squat set up camp in Syntagma |url=http://www.ekathimerini.com/239744/article/ekathimerini/news/refugees-evicted-from-squat-set-up-camp-in-syntagma |access-date=19 May 2019 |work=Ekathimerini |date=20 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525002708/http://www.ekathimerini.com/239744/article/ekathimerini/news/refugees-evicted-from-squat-set-up-camp-in-syntagma |archive-date=25 May 2019 |url-status=live }}

There was a large squatting movement in the newly formed state of Austria following the First World War. Famine was a significant problem for many people in Austria and the "Siedler" (settler) movement developed as these people tried to create shelter and a source of food for themselves.{{cite book |last1=Vossoughian |first1=Nader |title=Otto Neurath: The Language of the Global Polis |date=2008 |publisher=NAi |location=The Hague |isbn=978-90-5662-350-0}} The Ernst Kirchweger Haus (EKH) in Vienna was squatted as a social centre in 1990 and legalised in 2008. In 2014, 1,500 riot police officers, a tank-like police vehicle, a police water cannon and helicopters were used to clear a building occupied by the group Pizzeria Anarchia in Vienna.{{cite news |last1=von Usslar |first1=Maria |last2=Matzenberger |first2=Michael |last3=Melzer |first3=Anja |title=Polizei räumte "Pizzeria Anarchia": 19 Besetzer festgenommen – derStandard.at |url=https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000003586717/wien-vorbereitungen-zur-raeumung-der-pizzeria-anarchia-begonnen |access-date=1 October 2020 |work=Der Standard | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209124114/https://derstandard.at/2000003586717/Wien-Vorbereitungen-zur-Raeumung-der-Pizzeria-Anarchia-begonnen | archive-date=2018-12-09 | url-status=live |date=28 July 2014 |language=de-AT}}{{Cite web|url = https://wien.orf.at/news/stories/2672896/|title="Pizzeria Anarchia": Räumung um 870.000 Euro|date = 2014-10-09|access-date = 2018-12-07|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181209124655/https://wien.orf.at/news/stories/2672896/|archive-date = 2018-12-09|url-status = live}}

File:CSOA La Carboneria façana globus 2.jpg

In many West European countries, since the 1960s and 1970s, there are both squatted houses used as residences and self-managed social centres where people pursue social and cultural activities. In Belgium, the village of Doel was slowly occupied by squatters and used by street artists after becoming a ghost village when the plans to expand Port of Antwerp stalled.{{cite news |last1=Dunmall |first1=Giovanna |title=Doel: The ghost town that's a paradise for graffiti artists |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jun/04/doel-ghost-town-belgium-street-art-decay |access-date=28 April 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=4 June 2014 |language=en |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428105647/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jun/04/doel-ghost-town-belgium-street-art-decay |url-status=live }} Christiania in Copenhagen, Denmark, is an independent community of almost 900 people founded in 1971 on the site of an abandoned military zone. In Copenhagen, as in other European cities such as Berlin and Amsterdam, the squatter movement was large in the 1980s. It was a social movement, providing housing and alternative culture. A flashpoint came in 1986 with the Battle of Ryesgade. Another flashpoint came in 2007 when Ungdomshuset was evicted. While not technically a squat until 14 December 2006, it was a social centre used by squatters and people involved in alternative culture more generally. After a year of protests, the city council donated a new building.{{cite news |publisher=Politiken |language=da |date=2008-06-30 |access-date=2008-06-30 |url=http://politiken.dk/indland/article532135.ece |title=Aktivister har overtaget nyt ungdomshus |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803045131/http://politiken.dk/indland/article532135.ece |archive-date=2008-08-03 |url-status=live }} The Dublin Housing Action Committee (DHAC) was active between 1968 and 1971, occupying buildings to protest the housing crisis in Ireland.{{cite news |last1=McEneaney |first1=Sinead |title=Political commemoration and housing protest in Ireland: A lesson from the 1960s |url=https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/political-commemoration-and-housing-protest-in-ireland-a-lesson-from-the-1960s/ |access-date=28 April 2021 |work=History Workshop |date=14 May 2019 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428120642/https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/political-commemoration-and-housing-protest-in-ireland-a-lesson-from-the-1960s/ |url-status=live }} The Prohibition of Forcible Entry and Occupation Act of 1971 criminalized squatting.{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Thomas |title=Contesting Economic and Social Rights in Ireland: Constitution, State and Society, 1848–2016 |year=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-15535-0 |page=307 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yx-nDAAAQBAJ |language=en |access-date=2023-03-22 |archive-date=2023-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230612223400/https://books.google.com/books?id=Yx-nDAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }} Squatters can gain title to land and property by adverse possession as governed by the 1957 Statute of Limitations Act.{{cite news |last1=Donnellan |first1=Grace |title=Precarious Living: Squatters' rights in Ireland |url=https://universityobserver.ie/precarious-living-squatters-rights-in-ireland/ |access-date=28 April 2021 |work=University Observer |date=21 April 2019 |language=en-ie |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428120642/https://universityobserver.ie/precarious-living-squatters-rights-in-ireland/ |url-status=live }} From the 1990s onwards, there have been occasional political squats such as Disco Disco, Magpie and Grangegorman.{{cite news |author=Dan Griffin |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/squatter-supporters-hurt-in-grangegorman-stand-off-1.2150573 |title=Squatter Supporters hurt in Grangegorman stand off |newspaper=Irish Times |access-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706053002/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/squatter-supporters-hurt-in-grangegorman-stand-off-1.2150573 |archive-date=6 July 2015 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=McDermott |first1=Fiachradh |title=The short history of squatting in Dublin: Rejecting consumerism and being 'a bit punk' |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/squatting-dublin-3771031-Dec2017/ |access-date=28 April 2021| work=The Journal |language=en |archive-date=30 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430160712/http://www.thejournal.ie/squatting-dublin-3771031-Dec2017/ |url-status=live }} In early twentieth century France, several artists who would later become world-famous, such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Amedeo Modigliani and Pablo Picasso squatted at the {{Lang|fr|Bateau-Lavoir|italic=no}}, in Montmartre, Paris. Paris moved to legitimize some popular artist squats in the mid-2000s by purchasing and renovating the buildings for artist–residents. An example is Les Frigos.{{Cite news |last1=Pfeiffer |first1=Alice |title=Artists' Squats in Paris |work=The New York Times |date=2010-01-26 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/travel/31headsup.html |issn=0362-4331 |df=mdy-all |access-date=2017-09-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729180852/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/travel/31headsup.html |archive-date=2017-07-29 |url-status=live }} In the 2010s there have been several land squats protesting against large infrastructure projects. These are known collectively as Zone to Defend or ZAD (French: zone à défendre). The first and largest was the ZAD de Notre-Dame-des-Landes, which successfully opposed an airport project near Nantes.{{cite news |last1=Soutra |first1=Hugo |title=Zones à Défendre : les aménageurs face à une nouvelle contrainte |url=https://www.lagazettedescommunes.com/427131/zones-a-defendre-les-amenageurs-face-a-une-nouvelle-contrainte/ |access-date=1 October 2020 |work=La Gazette des Communes |date=1 February 2016 |language=fr-FR |archive-date=27 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327123031/https://www.lagazettedescommunes.com/427131/zones-a-defendre-les-amenageurs-face-a-une-nouvelle-contrainte/ |url-status=live }}

File:Chien-Rouge-p1020706.jpg, in a former hospital]]

Geneva in Switzerland had 160 buildings illegally occupied and more than 2,000 squatters, in the middle of the 1990s.{{cite news| last = Swissinfo| date = 2007-07-23| title = Geneva's historic Rhino squat evicted| url = https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/geneva-s-historic-rhino-squat-evicted/6020430| url-status = live| work = Swissinfo| access-date = 2019-03-26| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190327202626/https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/geneva-s-historic-rhino-squat-evicted/6020430| archive-date = 2019-03-27}} The RHINO ({{Lang|fr|Retour des Habitants dans les Immeubles Non-Occupés}}, in English: Return of Inhabitants to Non-Occupied Buildings) was a 19-year-long squat in Geneva. It occupied two buildings on the Boulevard des Philosophes, a few blocks away from the main campus of the University of Geneva. The RHINO organisation often faced legal troubles, and Geneva police evicted the inhabitants on July 23, 2007. There were large riots in Zürich when the Binz occupation was evicted in 2013. The squatters moved to another building.{{cite news|last=Feusi|first=Alois|title=Die Binz-Besetzer sind abgezogen|url=http://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/kanton-zuerich-wird-strafanzeige-einreichen-1.18090674|access-date=6 December 2016|work=Neue Zürcher Zeitung|date=31 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220085104/http://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/kanton-zuerich-wird-strafanzeige-einreichen-1.18090674|archive-date=20 December 2016|url-status=live}}

File:Raeumung Topf und Soehne-09.jpg squat, 16 April 2009]]

During the public opposition in the 1970s, squatting in West German cities led to what {{ill|Margit Mayer|de}} termed "a self-confident urban counterculture with its own infrastructure of newspapers, self-managed collectives and housing cooperatives, feminist groups, and so on, which was prepared to intervene in local and broader politics".Mayer M. The Career of Urban Social Movements in West Germany in eds Fisher R and Kling J Urban Affairs Annual Review volume 41 London (1993) The Autonomen movement protected squats against eviction and participated in radical direct action in cities such as Berlin. The squats were mainly for residential and social use. Squatting became known by the term {{Lang|de|instandbesetzen}}, from {{Lang|de|instandsetzen}} ("renovating") and {{Lang|de|besetzen}} ("occupying"). Well-known contemporary squats include Køpi in Berlin and Rote Flora in Hamburg.{{cite news |last1=Rosenbach |first1=Marcel |last2=Berg |first2=Stefan |title=Last Stand for the Far-Left: Berlin Commune Fights the Property Developers |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/last-stand-for-the-far-left-berlin-commune-fights-the-property-developers-a-525017.html |access-date=21 December 2020 |work=Spiegel |date=21 December 2007 |archive-date=24 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224135727/https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/last-stand-for-the-far-left-berlin-commune-fights-the-property-developers-a-525017.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=The Rote Flora: the iconic Hamburg squat right-wingers call a danger to the nation |url=https://www.thelocal.de/20170711/what-you-should-know-about-hamburgs-historic-left-wing-squat-the-rote-flora-g20 |access-date=21 December 2020 |work=The Local |agency=DPA |date=11 July 2017 |archive-date=12 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201212031313/https://www.thelocal.de/20170711/what-you-should-know-about-hamburgs-historic-left-wing-squat-the-rote-flora-g20 |url-status=live }} Legalised housing projects include Hafenstraße in Hamburg and Kiefernstraße in Düsseldorf.{{cite news |title=1995: Häuser der Hafenstraße gehen an ihre Bewohner |url=https://www.ndr.de/geschichte/schauplaetze/Hamburger-Hafenstrasse--Kampf-um-besetzte-Haeuser,hafenstrasse155.html |access-date=15 November 2020 |work=www.ndr.de |date=14 February 2020 |language=de |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101061528/https://www.ndr.de/geschichte/schauplaetze/Hamburger-Hafenstrasse--Kampf-um-besetzte-Haeuser,hafenstrasse155.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Düsseldorf: Die Hausbesetzer von der Kiefernstraße |url=https://rp-online.de/panorama/wissen/die-hausbesetzer-von-der-kiefernstrasse_aid-14716159 |access-date=15 November 2020 |work=RP Online |date=27 August 2013 |language=de |archive-date=13 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213165900/https://rp-online.de/panorama/wissen/die-hausbesetzer-von-der-kiefernstrasse_aid-14716159 |url-status=live}} The Mietshäuser Syndikat was founded in 1992 by people who had been squatting in Freiburg im Breisgau in the 1980s{{Cite web |title=Germany's Collective Alternative to the Private Housing Swindle |url=https://tribunemag.co.uk/2022/07/germany-mietshauser-syndikat-property-housing |access-date=2022-09-09 |website=tribunemag.co.uk |language=en-GB |quote=The idea of the syndicate was born among those who occupied an abandoned machine production factory in Freiburg im Breisgau, another university town near the French border, in the 1980s. |archive-date=2022-09-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220909133157/https://tribunemag.co.uk/2022/07/germany-mietshauser-syndikat-property-housing |url-status=live }} to provide a way of transforming private property into collective ownership, including squats.{{Cite web |title=The Joint Venture – Mietshäuser Syndikat |url=https://www.syndikat.org/en/the-joint-venture/ |access-date=2022-09-09 |language=en-GB |quote="... all the house projects have a similar point of departure: ... the occupants of an object slated for demolition, who search for a perspective in spite of the emotional roller-coaster ride of eviction threats and negotiations." |archive-date=2022-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220908112859/https://www.syndikat.org/en/the-joint-venture/ |url-status=live }} Squatting has also been used as a tactic for campaigning purposes, such as the Anatopia project, which protested against a Mercedes-Benz test track.{{cite book |last1=Amantine |title="Die Häuser denen, die drin wohnen!" Kleine Geschichte der Häuserkämpfe in Deutschland |date=2012 |publisher=Unrast Verlag |location=Münster |isbn=978-3-89771-115-0}} Squatters moved into the former factory site of J.A. Topf & Söhne in Erfurt in April 2001 and remained there until they were evicted by police in April 2009. The firm made crematoria for Nazi concentration camps. The squatters ran culture programs which drew attention to the history of the company. The occupation was known simply as {{Lang|de|Das Besetzte Haus}} (the occupied house) and was one of the most well known actions of left-radicals of that period in Germany. A book about the occupation was published in 2012, entitled Topf & Söhne – {{Lang|de|Besetzung auf einem Täterort}} (Topf & Söhne – Occupation of a crime scene).Meyerbeer, Karl; Späth, Pascal (eds) (2012) Topf & Söhne – Besetzung auf einem Täterort. Heidelberg: Graswurzel-Verlag Since 2012, Hambach Forest has been occupied by activists seeking to prevent its destruction by the energy company RWE.{{cite news |last1=Brändlin |first1=Anne-Sophie |title=Clash in German forest as red line is crossed {{!}} DW {{!}} 1 December 2016 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/clash-in-german-forest-as-red-line-is-crossed/a-36606405 |access-date=28 February 2021 |work=Deutsche Welle |date=1 December 2016 |archive-date=3 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003151931/https://www.dw.com/en/clash-in-german-forest-as-red-line-is-crossed/a-36606405 |url-status=live }} While the majority of squatting in Germany still comes from left-wing actors there are also examples of right-wing squatting. An example for right-wing squatting in Berlin is the occupation of Weitlingstraße 122. The house was occupied by neo-Nazis in 1990, when a lot of houses in former GDR where empty. They named similar social issues as leftist squatters as their reason for squatting. The space was used for different purposes ranging from a place to live, gather or party, to producing propaganda and planning right-wing terrorist activities. The squat dissolved at the end of 1990 because of disagreements in the heterogenous group of squatters.Warnecke, Jakob. "Failed takeover: The phenomenon of right-wing squatting." Comparative approaches to informal housing around the globe (2020): 223-237

File:Reykjavik Squat, Iceland (3446319888).jpg

In Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland, there is a small tradition of squatting. In 1919, anarchists occupied a building and were quickly evicted.{{cite news |last1=Grettisson |first1=Valur |title=Reykjavík Of Yore: Squatting, And The Total Failure of Zoning |url=https://grapevine.is/mag/2017/04/20/reykjavik-of-yore-squatting-and-the-total-failure-of-zoning/ |access-date=12 April 2019 |work=Reykjavík Grapevine |date=20 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412235658/https://grapevine.is/mag/2017/04/20/reykjavik-of-yore-squatting-and-the-total-failure-of-zoning/ |archive-date=12 April 2019 |url-status=live }} Squatters occupied an empty house in downtown Reykjavík on Vatnsstigur street in April 2009.{{cite news |last1=Fontaine |first1=Paul |title=Squatters Take Over Downtown House |url=https://grapevine.is/news/2009/04/15/squatters-take-over-downtown-house/ |access-date=12 April 2019 |work=Reykjavík Grapevine |date=15 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413000457/https://grapevine.is/news/2009/04/15/squatters-take-over-downtown-house/ |archive-date=13 April 2019 |url-status=live }} The squatters set up a freeshop and had plans for a social centre, but the occupation was quickly evicted by the police and 22 people were arrested.{{cite news |last1=Fulton |first1=Catharine |title=Allir á Vatnsstíg, löggan er komin |url=https://grapevine.is/news/2009/04/15/news-squatters-violently-removed-from-vatnsstigur-squat/ |access-date=13 April 2019 |work=Reykjavík Grapevine |date=April 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413000455/https://grapevine.is/news/2009/04/15/news-squatters-violently-removed-from-vatnsstigur-squat/ |archive-date=13 April 2019 |url-status=live }} Vatnsstigur 4 was briefly resquatted on May 7, 2009, in solidarity with the Rozbrat squat in Poland, which was threatened with eviction.{{cite news |last1=Fulton |first1=Catharine |title=We're persistent bastards! |url=https://grapevine.is/news/2009/05/07/resquatting-vatnsstigur/ |access-date=13 April 2019 |work=Reykjavík Grapevine |date=7 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413000456/https://grapevine.is/news/2009/05/07/resquatting-vatnsstigur/ |archive-date=13 April 2019 |url-status=live }} Also in 2009, a group of graffiti artists called the Pretty Boys occupied Hverfisgata 34. Their intention was to make a clandestine gallery and then when they were not evicted, they legalised the space and called it Gallery Bosnia.{{cite news |last1=Beckett |first1=RX |title=Refilling 101 |url=https://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2009/11/17/article-refilling-101/ |access-date=13 April 2019 |work=Reykjavík Grapevine |date=17 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413001058/https://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2009/11/17/article-refilling-101/ |archive-date=13 April 2019 |url-status=live }} When the Reykjavíkur Akademían (the Reykjavík Academy) was evicted at short notice from Hringbraut 121 in November 2011, it was occupied in protest. The space, which had hosted lectures and also Iceland's trade union and anarchist libraries, was moved to another location but the occupiers were unhappy that the new use of the building would be a guest house for tourists. An art exhibition was organised, with a camera obscura, live music and shadow theatre.{{cite news |last1=Benjamin |first1=Gabríel |title=The New Political Squat In Town |url=https://grapevine.is/news/2014/11/03/the-new-political-squat-in-town/ |access-date=13 April 2019 |work=Reykjavík Grapevine |date=3 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413002045/https://grapevine.is/news/2014/11/03/the-new-political-squat-in-town/ |archive-date=13 April 2019 |url-status=live }}

File:Squatting Graffiti in Rome.jpg

In Italy, despite the lack of official data, it appears that about 50,000 buildings all over the country are unused or abandoned and thus subject to squatting.{{cite news|author=Giuseppe Portonera|title=The Problem of Squatting in Italy: A New Approach by the Courts|newspaper=IPRI 2019|editor=International Property Rights Alliance|page=1|ssrn=3472293}} Squatting has no legal basis, but many squats are used as social centres. The first occupations of abandoned buildings began in 1968 with the left-wing movements Lotta Continua and Potere Operaio. Out of the breakup of these two movements was born Autonomia Operaia, which was composed of a Marxist–Leninist and Maoist wing and also an anarchist and more libertarian one. These squats had Marxist–Leninist (but also Stalinist and Maoist) ideals and came from the left wing of Autonomia. The militants of the Italian armed struggle (the New Red Brigades) were connected to these squats.{{cite book |last=Wright |first=Steve |title=Storming Heaven: Class Composition and Struggle in Italian Autonomous Marxism |year= 2002 |publisher=Pluto |isbn=978-0-7453-1606-2}} There are many left-wing self-organised occupied projects across Italy such as Cascina Torchiera and Centro Sociale Leoncavallo in Milan and Forte Prenestino in Rome. In Rome there is also a far-right social centre, Casa Pound.{{cite news |title=Italian judge orders seizure of neo-fascist CasaPound headquarters |url=https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/politics-news-pmn/italian-judge-orders-seizure-of-neo-fascist-casapound-headquarters |access-date=7 September 2020 |work=National Post |agency=Reuters |date=4 June 2020 |language=en-CA |archive-date=7 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907102140/https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/politics-news-pmn/italian-judge-orders-seizure-of-neo-fascist-casapound-headquarters |url-status=live}} This situation has so far received the approval of Italian courts, which have been reluctant to defend the owners' rights. In contrast with the dominant jurisprudence, new case-law (from the Rome Tribunal and the Supreme Court of Cassation) instructs the government to pay damages in case of squatting if the institutions have failed to prevent it.{{cite news|author=Giuseppe Portonera|title=The Problem of Squatting in Italy: A New Approach by the Courts|newspaper=IPRI 2019|editor=International Property Rights Alliance|pages=5–11|ssrn=3472293}}

File:Ubica-panden.jpg, a former squat in Utrecht |alt=Exterior of squat]]

Regarding squatting in the Netherlands, the Dutch use the term krakers to refer to people who squat houses with the aim of living in them (as opposed to people who break into buildings for the purpose of vandalism or theft). Notable squats in cities around the country include ACU and Moira in Utrecht, the Poortgebouw in Rotterdam, OCCII, OT301 and Vrankrijk in Amsterdam, the Grote Broek in Nijmegen, Vrijplaats Koppenhinksteeg in Leiden, De Vloek in The Hague and the Landbouwbelang in Maastricht. Land squats include Ruigoord and Fort Pannerden. On 1 June 2010, squatting in the Netherland became illegal and punishable when a decree was sent out that the squatting ban would be enforced from 1 October.{{cite web |url=http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article1384686.ece/Eerste_Kamer_neemt_antikraakwet_aan |title=Eerste Kamer neemt antikraakwet aan – Binnenland |publisher=Volkskrant.nl |access-date=2010-10-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604192553/http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article1384686.ece/Eerste_Kamer_neemt_antikraakwet_aan |archive-date=2010-06-04 |url-status=live }} Following legal challenges, on October 28, 2011, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands decided that the eviction of a squat can only occur after an intervention of a judge.{{cite journal |last=Dee |first=E.T.C. |s2cid=147421606 |title=The Production of Squatters as Folk Devils: Analysis of a Moral Panic that Facilitated the Criminalization of Squatting in the Netherlands |journal=Deviant Behavior |volume=37 |issue=7 |pages= 784–794|doi=10.1080/01639625.2016.1145019 |year=2016 }} 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.cnsjournal.org/the-vacancy-crunch-the-current-housing-crisis-in-the-netherlands-and-the-repression-of-squatting/ |title=The vacancy crunch: The current housing crisis in the Netherlands and the repression of squatting |publisher=CNS Blog |date=2016-05-14 |access-date=2016-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916200004/http://www.cnsjournal.org/the-vacancy-crunch-the-current-housing-crisis-in-the-netherlands-and-the-repression-of-squatting/ |archive-date=2016-09-16 |url-status=live }}

File:Barcelona okupa Can Vies.jpg social centre in Barcelona|alt=Exterior of squat]]

In Francoist Spain migrant workers lived in slums on the periphery of cities.{{cite book |last1=Tudela |first1=Enrique |last2=Cattaneo |first2=Claudio |editor1-last=Katzeff |editor1-first=Ask |editor2-last=van der Steen |editor2-first=Bart |editor3-last=van Hoogenhuijze |editor3-first=Leendert |title=The city is ours: Squatting and autonomous movements in Europe from the 1970s to the present |date=2014 |publisher=PM Press |location=Oakland |isbn=978-1-60486-683-4 |chapter=El Carrer es Nostre! The autonomous movement in Barcelona 1980–2012}} After the Spanish transition to democracy, residential squatting occurred in Spanish cities such as Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Valencia and Zaragoza. The number of squatted social centres in Barcelona grew from under thirty in the 1990s to around sixty in 2014, as recorded by Info Usurpa (a weekly activist agenda).{{rp|113}} The influential Kasa de la Muntanya was occupied in 1989.{{rp|104}} In 2014, the ultimately unsuccessful attempts to evict the long-running social centre of Can Vies provoked major riots.{{cite news |title=Squat demolition called off after four nights of rioting in Barcelona |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/10865311/Squat-demolition-called-off-after-four-nights-of-rioting-in-Barcelona.html |website=The Telegraph |access-date=1 June 2014 |date=2014-05-30 |last1=Govan |first1=Fiona |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601061144/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/10865311/Squat-demolition-called-off-after-four-nights-of-rioting-in-Barcelona.html |archive-date=1 June 2014 |url-status=live }} Another long-running squat is Can Masdeu, which survived a concerted eviction attempt in 2002. Eleven occupiers suspended themselves off the walls of the building for several days.{{rp|114}} Younger squatters set up self-managed social centres which hosted events and campaigns. The 1995 Criminal Code among other things criminalised squatting, but failed to stop it.{{cite book |last1=Martinez |first1=Miguel |editor1-last=Squatting Europe Kollective |title=Squatting in Europe : radical spaces, urban struggles |date=2013 |publisher=Minor Compositions |location=Wivenhoe [UK] |isbn=978-1-57027-257-8 |chapter=The Squatters' Movement in Spain}} Social centres exist in cities across the country, for example Can Masdeu and Can Vies in Barcelona and Eskalera Karakola and La Ingobernable in Madrid.{{cite news |last1=Sanz |first1=Segundo |last2=Tejero |first2=Raquel |title=Huelga 8 de marzo: Un centro de 'okupas' feministas financiado por ediles de Carmena está detrás de la huelga del 8M |url=https://okdiario.com/espana/centro-okupas-feministas-financiado-ediles-carmena-esta-detras-huelga-del-8m-3789534 |access-date=3 October 2020 |work=okdiario |date=7 March 2019 |language=es |archive-date=23 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923051336/https://okdiario.com/espana/centro-okupas-feministas-financiado-ediles-carmena-esta-detras-huelga-del-8m-3789534 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Ramos Aísa |first1=Luca |last2=Franco |first2=Lucía |title=El Gobierno ejecuta el desalojo del nuevo edificio de La Ingobernable, vacío durante el estado de alarma |url=https://elpais.com/espana/madrid/2020-04-24/el-gobierno-ejecuta-el-desalojo-del-nuevo-edificio-de-la-ingobernable-vacio-durante-el-estado-de-alarma.html |access-date=3 October 2020 |work=EL PAÍS |date=24 April 2020 |language=es |quote="La Ingobernable es un proyecto que va más allá de un espacio" |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426150203/https://elpais.com/espana/madrid/2020-04-24/el-gobierno-ejecuta-el-desalojo-del-nuevo-edificio-de-la-ingobernable-vacio-durante-el-estado-de-alarma.html |archive-date=26 April 2020 |url-status=live }} In the Basque Country the centres are known as {{ill|gaztetxes|eu|Gaztetxe}}. A well-known example was Kukutza in Bilbao.{{cite news |author= |title=The Basque Country And A Peace Process That Spain Is Ignoring |url=https://ansionnachfionn.com/2011/09/26/the-basque-country-and-a-peace-process-that-spain-is-ignoring/ |work=AN SIONNACH FIONN |location=Ireland |date=2020-10-03 |access-date=2019-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403220213/https://ansionnachfionn.com/2011/09/26/the-basque-country-and-a-peace-process-that-spain-is-ignoring/ |archive-date=2019-04-03 |url-status=live }}

File:London Social Centre Russell Square squat 1 20060329.jpg, London]]

Squatting in England and Wales has a long history.{{cite web |url=http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2014/05/13/squatting-in-england-heritage-prospects/ |title=Squatting in England: Heritage & Prospects |date=13 May 2014 |website=Crimethinc |access-date=9 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920030441/http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2014/05/13/squatting-in-england-heritage-prospects/ |archive-date=20 September 2016 |url-status=live}} The occupation and cultivation of untended land motivated the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and the Diggers in the 17th century.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14030336 Squatters: Who are they and why do they squat?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513071232/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14030336 |date=2019-05-13}}, BBC News In the 20th century, squatters turned to abandoned buildings. Mass squats were organised in a number of prominent public buildings in central London, culminating in the occupation of 144 Piccadilly in 1969. The London Street Commune or "Hippydilly" garnered worldwide attention.{{cite news |last=Issimdar |first=Mariam |title=When hippy squatters took over 144 Piccadilly |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-49607777 |url-status=live |publisher=BBC News |date=2019-10-05 |access-date=2020-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321002823/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-49607777 |archive-date=2020-03-21 |language=en-GB}} There were estimated to be 50,000 squatters throughout Britain in the late 1970s, with the majority (30,000) living in London.{{cite journal |last1=Kearns |first1=K |title=Intraurban Squatting in London |journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers |volume=69 |issue=4 |pages=589–598 |date=1979 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8306.1979.tb01284.x}} The BBC reported in 2011 that the government estimated that there were "20,000 squatters in the UK" and "650,000 empty properties". On 1 September 2012, under Section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, squatting in residential property was criminalised by the Cameron–Clegg coalition, punishable by up to six months in prison or a £5000 fine, or both.{{cite news |title=Squatting set to become a criminal offence |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19429936 |url-status=live |publisher=BBC News |date=31 August 2012 |access-date=20 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920135547/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19429936 |archive-date=20 September 2019}}{{cite web |url=http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/legislation/bills-acts/circulars/squatting-circular.pdf |title=Ministry of Justice Circular No. 2012/04 – Offence of Squatting In a Residential Building |access-date=2013-01-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116092751/http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/legislation/bills-acts/circulars/squatting-circular.pdf |archive-date=2013-01-16 |url-status=live}} The same year saw the first successful prosecution for squatting, resulting in a 12-week jail sentence.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-19753414|title=First person jailed for squatting|date=2012-09-27|publisher=BBC News|access-date=2018-11-05|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105165207/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-19753414|archive-date=2018-11-05|url-status=live}} Section 61 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 provides police with additional power to remove trespassers when there is damage to land or property, trespassers are abusive, insulting or threatening or there are over six vehicles on premises related to squatters.{{cite web|last1=Silkin|first1=Lewis|last2=Hayes|first2=Paul|date=19 December 2018|title=Trespassers will be prosecuted.....or will they?|url=https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=571d6e98-0154-4462-9deb-f20f2cb8f56d|url-access=subscription|access-date=2020-11-10|website=www.lexology.com|publisher=Law Business Research |archive-date=2020-11-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117002233/https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=571d6e98-0154-4462-9deb-f20f2cb8f56d|url-status=live}} In the late 1960s, people in Northern Ireland were forced to squat through both poverty and a lack of decent housing. In County Tyrone, there were allegations of unfair housing provision on the basis of politics and religion.{{cite book |last1=McKittrick |first1=David |last2=McVea |first2=David |title=Making Sense of the Troubles |date=2000 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-241-96265-7 |edition=Third, 2012 }} When a house in the village of Caledon, near Dungannon, was allocated to a young Protestant woman, Emily Beattie, it caused protests.{{cite news |first=Liam |last=Clarke |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/lord-kilclooney-im-impressed-by-martin-mcguinnness-development-34302140.html |date=21 December 2015 |title=Lord Kilclooney: 'I'm impressed by Martin McGuinnness' development' |publisher=Belfast Telegraph |access-date=10 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607111031/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/lord-kilclooney-im-impressed-by-martin-mcguinnness-development-34302140.html |archive-date=7 June 2019 |url-status=live}} She was secretary to a solicitor who worked for the Unionist councillor who had given her the house and two Catholic families who had been overlooked complained that the same councillor had scotched plans to build houses for Catholics in the Dungannon area. Several days after the woman had moved in, the Catholic squatters in the house next door were evicted. Austin Currie, then a young politician, complained both at the local council and at Stormont about the situation. He then symbolically occupied the woman's house for a few hours, before being evicted by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). One of the policeman was the woman's brother who himself moved into the house later on. The incident quickly became a media sensation and in August the civil rights movement arranged one of its first marches, from Coalisland to Dungannon. This was followed in October by a civil rights march in Derry which was organised by the Derry Housing Action Committee and the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. The march was repressed by the RUC. In 2012, activists from Occupy Belfast squatted a Bank of Ireland building in Belfast city centre and used it as a social space.{{cite news |last=McDonald |first=Henry |title=Occupy protesters take over former bank in Belfast |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jan/16/belfast-occupy-bank-of-ireland |url-status=live |work=The Guardian |date=2012-01-16 |access-date=2015-02-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602074937/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jan/16/belfast-occupy-bank-of-ireland |archive-date=2015-06-02}} Squatting in Northern Ireland was unaffected by the recent law change in England and Wales, and remains a civil matter.{{cite journal |last=Nowicki |first=Mel |title=Is anyone home? Appropriating and re-narrativisating the post-criminalisation squatting scene in England and Wales |journal=Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space |date=20 October 2020 |volume=39 |issue=4 |page=15 |doi=10.1177/2399654420964835 |doi-access=free}}

Squatting in Scotland is a criminal offence, punishable by a fine or imprisonment, under the Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865. The owner or lawful occupier of the property has the right to evict squatters without notice or applying to the court for an eviction order, although when evicting, they cannot do anything that would break the law, for example, use violence.{{cite web |url=http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/getadvice/advice_topics/finding_a_place_to_live/squatting |title=Squatting |publisher=Scotland.shelter.org.uk |date=2010-07-23 |access-date=2012-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903051704/http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/getadvice/advice_topics/finding_a_place_to_live/squatting |archive-date=2011-09-03 |url-status=live }}

Nevertheless, the 19th and early 20th centuries saw various land raids in which cottars attempted to occupy land for subsistence farming. In 1948, the Seven Men of Knoydart unsuccessfully squatted land owned by the Nazi-supporting Lord Brocket.{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=A. |title=Native Stranger: A Journey in Familiar and Foreign Scotland |date=2015 |publisher=Hachette UK |isbn=978-0-7515-6122-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5zyNBQAAQBAJ&q=%22seven+men+of+knoydart%22&pg=PT343 |access-date=10 August 2019 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818183128/https://books.google.com/books?id=5zyNBQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT343&dq=%22seven+men+of+knoydart%22&pg=PT343 |url-status=live }} There have been several road protest land squats such as Bilston Glen and Pollok Free State.{{cite news |title=Man dies in fire at Bilston Glen protest camp |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-12323095 |access-date=6 April 2019 |publisher=BBC News |date=31 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407092212/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-12323095 |archive-date=7 April 2019 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.eco-action.org/dod/no5/region_scotland.htm |title=Pollok Free State Lives On! |work=Do or Die No.5 |year=1995 |access-date=2019-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801002116/http://www.eco-action.org/dod/no5/region_scotland.htm |archive-date=2019-08-01 |url-status=live}} The former premises of the Forest Café in Edinburgh were squatted in 2011{{cite web |url=http://local.stv.tv/edinburgh/news/284162-group-occupies-former-community-arts-centre/ |title=Protesters stage sit-in at community arts centre |publisher=Local.stv.tv |date=2011-12-01 |access-date=2012-11-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103102055/http://local.stv.tv/edinburgh/news/284162-group-occupies-former-community-arts-centre/ |archive-date=3 January 2012 |df=dmy-all}} and activists occupied a former shelter in Glasgow in 2021, during COP26.{{cite news |last1=Stewart |first1=Catriona |title='This is not the end': Activists vow to continue campaign as they leave Glasgow squat |url=https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19753732.activists-leave-baile-hoose-squat-glasgows-south-side/ |access-date=25 June 2022 |work=Glasgow Times |date=1 December 2001 |language=en |archive-date=1 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201180527/https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19753732.activists-leave-baile-hoose-squat-glasgows-south-side/ |url-status=live }} In 2010, a representative of the UK Bailiff Company claimed that the number of people squatting in Wales was at its highest for 40 years. The high number of businesses failing in urban Wales has led to squatting becoming a growing issue in large cities like Swansea and Cardiff.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-16807459 |publisher=BBC News |title=Cwtch community group occupies Swansea's empty Dolphin Hotel |date=January 31, 2012 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120105955/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-16807459 |archive-date=November 20, 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/11/29/wru-bosses-vow-to-fight-occupy-cardiff-squatters-91466-29859619/ |work=Wales Online |title=WRU bosses vow to fight Occupy Cardiff squatters |date=November 29, 2011 |access-date=February 29, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119101031/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/11/29/wru-bosses-vow-to-fight-occupy-cardiff-squatters-91466-29859619/ |archive-date=January 19, 2012 |url-status=live}} Experts said "the majority [of squatters] are forced into the lifestyle by financial pressures." Based on the internal database of UK Bailiff Company, there were 100 cases of squatting in 2009, the highest for 40 years, following trends estimated by the Advisory Service for Squatters that squatting has doubled in England and Wales since 1995.{{cite web |last=Malone |first=Sam |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/09/05/rise-in-squatters-puts-more-welsh-homeowners-at-risk-of-huge-eviction-bills-91466-27203034/ |title=Rise in squatters puts more Welsh homeowners at risk of huge eviction bills |publisher=Walesonline.co.uk |date=2010-09-05 |access-date=2012-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910141359/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/09/05/rise-in-squatters-puts-more-welsh-homeowners-at-risk-of-huge-eviction-bills-91466-27203034/ |archive-date=2011-09-10 |url-status=live}} As with England, from 1 September 2012, squatting in a residential building was made a criminal offence subject to arrest, fine and imprisonment. Cardiff Squatters Network was formed in December 2012, to network together squatters citywide, and host "skill-share" workshops on squatting legally in commercial buildings.{{cite news |url=http://yourcardiff.walesonline.co.uk/2012/12/11/squatters-form-cardiff-wide-network/ |title=Squatters form Cardiff-wide network |publisher=Wales Online |date=December 11, 2012 |access-date=December 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121215050012/http://yourcardiff.walesonline.co.uk/2012/12/11/squatters-form-cardiff-wide-network/ |archive-date=December 15, 2012 |url-status=live}}

{{Squatting in the United States}}

In Canada, there are two systems to register the ownership of land. Under the land title system, squatter rights, formally known as adverse possession, were abolished. However, under the registry system, these rights have been preserved. If a person occupies land for the required period of time as set out in provincial limitation acts and during that time no legal action is taken to evict them, then the ownership of the land transfers from the legal owner to the squatter.{{cite web |url=http://www.duhaime.org/LegalResources/RealEstateTenancy/LawArticle-69/Adverse-Possession.aspx |title=Adverse Possession – The Law Behind Land Squatters |access-date=2012-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106042332/http://www.duhaime.org/LegalResources/RealEstateTenancy/LawArticle-69/Adverse-Possession.aspx |archive-date=2012-01-06 |url-status=live }} Road allowance communities were settlements established by Métis people in the late 1800s through most of the 20th century on road allowances at the margins of settler society. Métis people were dispossessed from their land in the late 19th century, so they frequently squatted in these unclaimed and marginal spaces.{{Cite news |date=2019 |title=Forced to live on roadsides: the dark history of Métis road allowances |work=CBC |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/from-scrip-to-road-allowances-canada-s-complicated-history-with-the-m%C3%A9tis-1.5100375/forced-to-live-on-roadsides-the-dark-history-of-m%C3%A9tis-road-allowances-1.5100660 |access-date=2023-08-18 |archive-date=2023-08-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818133755/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/from-scrip-to-road-allowances-canada-s-complicated-history-with-the-m%C3%A9tis-1.5100375/forced-to-live-on-roadsides-the-dark-history-of-m%C3%A9tis-road-allowances-1.5100660 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Métis Road Allowance Communities |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis-road-allowance-communities |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca |language=en |archive-date=2023-08-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817105259/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis-road-allowance-communities |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |title=From scrip to road allowances: Canada's complicated history with the Métis |work=CBC |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/from-scrip-to-road-allowances-canada-s-complicated-history-with-the-m%C3%A9tis-1.5100375 |access-date=2023-08-18 |archive-date=2023-08-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818164424/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/from-scrip-to-road-allowances-canada-s-complicated-history-with-the-m%C3%A9tis-1.5100375 |url-status=live }} The Frances Street Squats in Vancouver were a row of six buildings squatted for nine months in 1990. They were evicted in a large operation and a film was subsequently made, called The Beat of Frances Street. In recent years, there have been a number of public squats which have brought together the two main contemporary reasons for squatting – homelessness and activism. Examples are the Préfontaine squat in Overdale, a district of Montréal (2001),Hanes, A. 'Squatters still going strong: Overdale activists vow never to leave new homes at city-owned Centre Prefontaine' in The Montréal Gazette August 23, 2001 the Woodward's Squat in Vancouver (2002), the Infirmary Squat in Halifax (2002), the Pope Squat in Toronto (2002), the Seven Year Squat in Ottawa (2002), the Water Street Squat in Peterborough (2003), and the North Star hotel in Vancouver (2006). These were squats organised by anti-poverty groups which tended to be short-lived.{{cite web |url=http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2004/11/01/113/ |title=Labour Battles in B.C. and Quebec – Canadian Dimension |access-date=2013-01-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007010954/http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2004/11/01/113/ |archive-date=2008-10-07 |url-status=live }} The Woodward's building was a derelict department store which had stood empty for nine years. After being evicted from the building, two hundred squatters set up a tent city on the pavement outside.[http://action.web.ca/home/housing/alerts.shtml?x=25702&AA_EX_Session=065e9e52810dacc1d4834fbc9b47e576 Vancouver's Woodwards squatters must go by Monday] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060524234805/https://action.web.ca/home/housing/alerts.shtml?x=25702 |date=2006-05-24 }} The action is credited with putting in motion the eventual redevelopment of the building.Ward, D. 'Anti-Olympic protesters get their game on' The Vancouver Sun January 29, 2010 The Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty (PCAP) publicly squatted 1130 Water Street, a building which stood empty after a fire. The group offered to repair the place and return it to its use as low-income housing. City officials agreed to the repairs and then City Council voted to demolish the building. The cost of demolition was $8,900 and the cost of repairs had been projected to be $6,900. The North Star hotel was temporarily squatted as a protest against emptiness by the Vancouver Anti-Poverty Committee.{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/police-evict-vancouver-squatters-1.587131 |title=Police evict Vancouver squatters|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107160421/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/police-evict-vancouver-squatters-1.587131 |archive-date=2020-11-07|work=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|date=24 October 2006}} In 2011, the "Occupy Toronto squat team" squatted a basement at 238 Queen Street West and offered to take on a lease for 99 cents per year. They were evicted after eight hours.Sweetman, M. [http://rabble.ca/news/2011/12/occupying-housing-pope-squat-occupy-toronto 'Occupying housing from the Pope Squat to Occupy Toronto'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313043122/http://rabble.ca/news/2011/12/occupying-housing-pope-squat-occupy-toronto |date=2013-03-13}} December 19, 2011

Squatting in the United States occurred historically in large numbers during both the California Gold Rush and World War II.{{cite web |last=Clay |first=Karen |title=Anarchy, Property Rights, and Violence: The Case of Post Gold Rush California |date=2005 |publisher=National Bureau of Economic Research |url=https://conference.nber.org/confer/2005/si2005/dae/clay.pdf |access-date=2022-12-02 |archive-date=2021-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721075526/http://conference.nber.org/confer/2005/si2005/dae/clay.pdf |url-status=live }}Nakagawa, Martha. [http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Little%20Tokyo%20/%20Bronzeville,%20Los%20Angeles,%20California/ "Little Tokyo / Bronzeville, Los Angeles"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729021337/http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Little%20Tokyo%20/%20Bronzeville,%20Los%20Angeles,%20California/ |date=2020-07-29}} Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 29, 2020. Hoovervilles were homeless camps built across the country during the Great Depression in the 1930s. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was president of the country at the time.{{cite web |title=Hoovervilles and Homelessness |url=http://depts.washington.edu/depress/hooverville.shtml |website=University of Washington |access-date=10 November 2020 |archive-date=5 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105232013/http://depts.washington.edu/depress/hooverville.shtml |url-status=live }} During the Great Recession (2007–2009) more shanty towns appeared{{Citation |url=http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_092608WAB_nickelsville_eviction_LJ.b3b65546.html |title=City moves to evict homeless campers |publisher=KING 5 TV |access-date=2008-09-26 |first=Roberta |last=Romero |date=2008-09-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927120518/https://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_092608WAB_nickelsville_eviction_LJ.b3b65546.html |archive-date=2008-09-27 }} with others squatting in foreclosed homes.{{Citation |last=Netter |first=Sarah |title=Anti-Government Sovereign Citizens Taking Foreclosed Homes Using Phony Deeds, Authorities Say |newspaper=ABC NEWS |date=2010-08-23 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-battling-sovereign-citizens-squatting-foreclosed-homes/story?id=11445382 |access-date=2011-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906035502/https://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-battling-sovereign-citizens-squatting-foreclosed-homes/story?id=11445382 |archive-date=2011-09-06 |url-status=live }}{{Citation |last=Bernstein |first=Maxine |title=A homeowner startled to find squatter living in the Portland house he bought out of foreclosure |newspaper=The Oregonian |date=2011-04-22 |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/04/portland_man_startled_to_find.html |access-date=2011-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527231529/http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/04/portland_man_startled_to_find.html |archive-date=2011-05-27 |url-status=live }}{{Citation |last=Roberts |first=Chris |title=After Foreclosure, Woman Breaks Back into, Squats |newspaper=NBC |date=2011-05-20 |url=http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/After-Foreclosure-Woman-Breaks-Back-into-Squats-In-Empty-Bank-Owned-Home-122332484.html |access-date=2011-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402235853/http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/After-Foreclosure-Woman-Breaks-Back-into-Squats-In-Empty-Bank-Owned-Home-122332484.html |archive-date=2012-04-02 |url-status=live }} During the hippie movement, squatters in New Mexico established the commune of Tawapa near the Sandia Mountains. However, they were kicked out in the 1990s because they did not have the legal rights to the land.{{Cite book |last=Julyan |first=Robert |title=The place names of New Mexico |date=1998 |publisher=Univ. of New Mexico Press |isbn=978-0-8263-1689-9 |edition=2nd ed, rev |location=Albuquerque}}

Community organizations have abetted squatters in taking over vacant buildings not only as a place to live but also a part of larger campaign to shine a light on inequity in housing and advocate change in housing and land issues.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6iYiDQAAQBAJ&q=yippies+1980&pg=PA57|title=Ours to Lose: When Squatters Became Homeowners in New York City|first=Amy |last=Starecheski|publisher=University of Chicago Press|date=2016|isbn=978-0-226-40000-6|access-date=2018-01-18|archive-date=2020-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818183802/https://books.google.com/books?id=6iYiDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=yippies+1980|url-status=live}} In 2002, the New York City administration agreed to work with eleven squatted buildings on the Lower East Side in a deal brokered by the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board with the condition the apartments would eventually be turned over to the tenants as low-income housing cooperatives.{{Citation |last=Ferguson |first=Sarah |title=Better Homes and Squatters: New York's Outlaw Homesteaders Earn the Right to Stay |newspaper=The Village Voice |date=August 27, 2002 |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-08-27/news/better-homes-and-squatters/1 |access-date=July 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629130107/http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-08-27/news/better-homes-and-squatters/1/ |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |url-status=live }}

In Latin American and Caribbean countries, informal settlements result from internal migration to urban areas, lack of affordable housing and ineffective governance.{{cite web |last1=Carrion |first1=Diego |last2=Vasconez |first2=Jaime |last3=Bermudez |first3=Nury |title=The case of Quito, Ecuador |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/pdfs/Quito.pdf |website=Understanding Slums: Case Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlements 2003 |publisher=UCL |access-date=2021-02-28 |archive-date=2021-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509190105/https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/pdfs/Quito.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Everett |first=Margaret |title=Human Rights and Evictions of the Urban Poor in Colombia |url=https://www.lincolninst.edu/es/publications/articles/human-rights-evictions-urban-poor-colombia |access-date=21 February 2021 |work=Land Lines |publisher=Lincoln Institute of Land Policy |date=1999 |language=es}} During the 1950s and 1960s, many Latin American cities demolished squatter settlements and would quickly evict land invasions.{{rp|41–42}} In Chile, the government of Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964–1970) began to permit shanty towns and the government of Salvador Allende (1970–1973) encouraged them, but under the military junta from 1973 onwards squatters were again quickly evicted.{{rp|91}} Likewise in Argentina, under the military dictatorship there was a zero tolerance policy.{{rp|42}} Nevertheless, forced by hunger and unemployment to take action, 20,000 squatters occupied 211 hectares of disused privately owned land on the periphery of Buenos Aires in 1981, forming six new settlements. They collectively resisted the eviction attempts and by 1984 had outlasted the dictatorship. The election of a democratic government led to the local councils becoming more open to negotiation.{{rp|13–15}}

More recently, governments have switched from a policy of eradication to one of giving squatters title to their lands, as part of various programs to move people out of slums and to alleviate poverty.{{cite journal |last1=Galiani |first1=Sebastian |last2=Schargrodsky |first2=Ernesto |title=The Deregularization of Land Titles |journal=Man and the Economy |date=1 January 2016 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=169–188 |doi=10.1515/me-2016-0018 |hdl=11336/117871 |s2cid=199469786 |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w22482.pdf |access-date=26 February 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180602061110/http://www.nber.org/papers/w22482.pdf |url-status=live }} Inspired by the World Bank and the thinking of economists such as Hernando de Soto, the programs aim to provide better housing and to promote entrepreneurship, for the former squatters can use their houses as collateral to secure business loans.{{cite journal |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Carmen G. |title=Squatters, Pirates, and Entrepreneurs: Is Informality the Solution to the Urban Housing Crisis? |journal=The University of Miami Inter-American Law Review |date=2009 |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=239–259 |jstor=25593614 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25593614 |issn=0884-1756 |access-date=2021-01-08 |archive-date=2021-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110164100/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25593614 |url-status=live }} Former squatters found that it was hard to maintain the property title over time after deaths or divorces and that banks changed their loan requirements so as to exclude them. In Nicaragua, squatting occurred after the 1972 Nicaragua earthquake.{{Cite news|url=https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article215489355.html|title=Amid unrest, Nicaragua's ruling party organizes a series of land grabs|publisher=McClatchy DC Bureau|last1=Johnson|first1=Tim|date=25 July 2018|access-date=14 December 2021|archive-date=28 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228013948/https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article215489355.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-04-05-mn-21581-story.html|title='A Catastrophe That Has to Be Stopped' : Well-Organized Squatters Turn Sandinista Ideology to Own Uses in Managua|work=Los Angeles Times|last1=Miller|first1=Marjorie|date=5 April 1986|access-date=9 February 2022|archive-date=9 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209012343/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-04-05-mn-21581-story.html|url-status=live}} In Peru, the name given to the squatter zones is pueblos jóvenes (literally "young towns").{{cite news |last=Whalen |first=Daniel |title=Some "Young Towns" in Lima Not So Young Anymore |url=https://www.coha.org/some-young-towns-in-lima-not-so-young-anymore/ |access-date=3 October 2020 |work=COHA |archive-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003030411/https://www.coha.org/some-young-towns-in-lima-not-so-young-anymore/ |url-status=live}} In the 1980s, there were more than 300 pueblos jóvenes surrounding the capital Lima, housing over one million people.{{rp|76}} In Argentina they are known as villa miseria (literally "misery settlement"), and as asentamiento in Uruguay and Guatemala.{{rp|13}}{{cite news |last=Tobar |first=Hector |title=In 'Shantytown,' César Aira gives shape to the invisible |url=https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-cesar-aira-20131124-story.html |access-date=3 October 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=22 November 2013 |archive-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003030416/https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-cesar-aira-20131124-story.html |url-status=live}}{{cite book |last=Álvarez-Rivadulla |first=María José |title=Squatters and the Politics of Marginality in Uruguay |date=2018 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-85415-1}}

The population of Ecuador's capital Quito grew sevenfold between 1950 and 2001. There are three types of slums in the city, namely barrios periféricos (shanty towns on the edge of the city), conventillos (dilapidated tenements in the urban centre) and rural shanty towns from where inhabitants commute to work in the city. An estimated 170,000 people were living in slums in 1992. In Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city and main port, around 600,000 people in the early 1980s were either squatting on self-built structures over swamplands or living in inner-city slums.{{rp|25, 76}} Illegal settlements frequently resulted from land invasions, in which large groups of squatters would build structures and hope to prevent eviction through strength in numbers.{{cite journal |last1=Lanjouw |first1=Jean O. |last2=Levy |first2=Philip I. |title=Untitled: A Study of Formal and Informal Property Rights in Urban Ecuador |journal=The Economic Journal |date=1 October 2002 |volume=112 |issue=482 |pages=986–1019 |doi=10.1111/1468-0297.00067 |s2cid=1171449 |url=http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/28439/files/dp980788.pdf |access-date=12 May 2021 |archive-date=5 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205114634/https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/nanna/record/28439/files/dp980788.pdf?withWatermark=0&withMetadata=0&version=1®isterDownload=1 |url-status=live }}

From the beginning of the 19th century, there was internal migration from rural areas to cities such as Cochabamba in Bolivia. By 1951, the migrants had begun to seize land and build informal settlements. The land invasions continued despite the authorities often evicting them and from 1945 until 1976, 10 per cent of development in Cochabamba was illegal.{{cite book |last1=Navarro |first1=Ignacio A. |title=The legacy effect of squatter settlements on urban redevelopment |date=2010 |publisher=UNU-WIDER |location=Helsinki |isbn=978-92-9230-260-3}} From the 1970s the government has attempted to regularize the squatter settlements and the programs have largely failed due to corruption. A fresh initiative set up in 2002 did not prevent new settlements being squatted. In the 1990s, La Paz had 48 unauthorised graveyards where the poor buried their dead. The land was squatted and there was no record of how many people were buried in the cemeteries.{{cite news |last1=Escobar |first1=Gabriel |title=Last Resort in Bolivia: Squatter Graves |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/05/14/last-resort-in-bolivia-squatter-graves/8043a227-9698-4127-9fc0-ead23fb7811e/ |access-date=28 March 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=14 May 1996}} There are also squatters in the forest lowlands who are illegal loggers.{{cite journal |last1=Ebeling |first1=Johannes |last2=Yasué |first2=Maï |title=The effectiveness of market-based conservation in the tropics: Forest certification in Ecuador and Bolivia |journal=Journal of Environmental Management |date=February 2009 |volume=90 |issue=2 |pages=1145–1153 |doi=10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.05.003|pmid=18614273 |bibcode=2009JEnvM..90.1145E }} Indigenous peoples occupied a gold mine at Tacacoma in 2015 which they said was on their ancestral land. When 200 police officers attempted to evict them, four were taken hostage and one died.{{cite news |title=Bolivia policeman killed in clash at Tacacoma gold mine |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-33986673 |access-date=15 April 2021 |work=BBC News |date=19 August 2015 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428124952/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-33986673 |url-status=live }}

File:RiodeJaneiro-Favela.jpg in Rio de Janeiro]]

In Brazil, informal settlements are called favelas; a famous example is Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, home to up to 180,000 people.{{cite news |title=Favela life: Rio's city within a city |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-27635554 |url-status=live |access-date=7 November 2020 |publisher=BBC News |date=9 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102085056/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-27635554 |archive-date=2 November 2020}} The squats are mostly inhabited by the poorest strata of society, and usually lack much infrastructure and public services, but in some cases, already have reached the structure needed for a city. As of 2004, across Brazil there were 25 million people living in favelas.{{citation |last=Neuwirth |first=R. |title=Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-415-93319-3}} After failed attempts in the 1960s and 1970s to bulldoze slums out of existence, the authorities moved towards a policy of toleration.{{rp|29, 41}} In São Paulo, until 1972 favelas were usually demolished; after that time they were permitted, meaning that in the next decade the number of squatters rose to one million.{{rp|83, 92}} The largest favela is Heliópolis, with over 200,000 inhabitants as of 2018. It has been officially recognized as a regular neighborhood of the city.{{cite book |last1=Petrillo |first1=Agostino |last2=Bellaviti |first2=Paola |title=Sustainable Urban Development and Globalization New strategies for new challenges{{snd}}with a focus on the Global South |date=2018 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-61988-0 |page=103}} There are also a number of squatter buildings in the inner city, the most famous of which was a 22-storey building called Prestes Maia, whose inhabitants were ordered to leave in 2006.{{cite news |author=Guardian Staff |title=Windows on a fragile world |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/feb/07/prestes-maia-bittencourt-squat-brazil |url-status=live |work=The Guardian |date=7 February 2009 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906031219/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/feb/07/prestes-maia-bittencourt-squat-brazil |archive-date=6 September 2013}} Various occupations in buildings and unoccupied areas in big cities, led by groups such as the Homeless Workers' Movement (MTST) or Downtown Roofless Movement (MSTC), have occurred.{{cite news |last=Phillips |first=Tom |title=Brazil's roofless reclaim the cities |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jan/23/brazil.uknews1 |access-date=14 April 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=23 January 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414231000/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jan/23/brazil.uknews1 |archive-date=14 April 2019 |url-status=live}} There are also rural squatter movements in Brazil, such as the Landless Workers' Movement (MST), which organise land occupations. For example, in Pontal do Paraná in the state of Paraná 112 occupations were carried out, housing 6,500 families.{{cite book |last=Fernandes |first=Bernardo Mançano |chapter=The Formation and the Territorialization of the MST in Brazil |editor-last1=Carter |editor-first1=Miguel |title=Challenging social inequality: The landless rural worker's movement and agrarian reform in Brazil |year= 2015 |pages=115–117 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, NC |isbn=978-0-8223-5186-3}}

The Colombian Constitution of 1991 states that housing is a universal human right. In 2010, Colombia was the country with the second most internally displaced people in the world, at an estimated 4 million.{{cite news |last=Otis |first=John |title=Land Reform Could End Colombia's Guerrilla War |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2040360,00.html |access-date=21 February 2021 |magazine=Time |date=31 December 2010 |archive-date=6 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506091732/https://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2040360,00.html |url-status=live }} This was the result of an extended civil conflict between rebels, paramilitaries, cocaine traders and the state, which left 40% of rural land without legal title. In the capital Bogotá, squatting has traditionally not been the main technique for land acquisition; people tend to purchase land legally and then subdivide or develop it illegally, creating "pirate neighbourhoods".{{cite journal |last=Gonzalez |first=Carmen G. |title=Squatters, Pirates, and Entrepreneurs: Is Informality the Solution to the Urban Housing Crisis? |journal=The University of Miami Inter-American Law Review |date=2009 |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=239–259 |jstor=25593614 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25593614 |issn=0884-1756 |access-date=2021-01-08 |archive-date=2021-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110164100/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25593614 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last=Rueda-García |first=Nicolás |title=The case of Bogotá D.C., Colombia |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/pdfs/Bogota.pdf |publisher=UCL |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=9 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509192947/https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/pdfs/Bogota.pdf |url-status=live }} In 1970, 45.9% of Bogotá's population lived in these pirate neighbourhoods, as compared to 1.1% who were squatting.

File:Cité soleil.JPG in 2006|alt=Aerial view of homes]]

Following the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), squatters in Haiti acquired smallholdings across the country.{{cite journal |last1=Mintz |first1=Sidney W. |title=Can Haiti Change? |journal=Foreign Affairs |date=1995 |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=73–86 |doi=10.2307/20047020 |jstor=20047020 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20047020 |access-date=28 April 2021 |issn=0015-7120 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428002727/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20047020 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }} Cité Soleil was founded in 1958 to house workers, then grew rapidly to 80,000 people in the 1980s and 400,000 people in the 1990s. It became the largest slum in Haiti, housing people displaced from other areas. There is little infrastructure and the area frequently becomes flooded.{{cite journal |last1=Beckett |first1=Greg |title=The Art of Not Governing Port-au-Prince |journal=Social and Economic Studies |date=2014 |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=31–57 |jstor=24384086 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24384086 |issn=0037-7651 |access-date=2021-04-28 |archive-date=2021-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428004651/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24384086 |url-status=live }} Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, 1.5 million people were displaced.{{cite web |title=Unclear land rights hinder Haiti's reconstruction |url=https://news.trust.org/item/20100705105000-axvt3/ |website=Thomson Reuters Foundation |access-date=28 April 2021 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428000215/https://news.trust.org/item/20100705105000-axvt3/ |url-status=live }} One year later, 100,000 squatters had left the aid camps and were occupying land next to an official camp called Corail.{{cite news |last1=O'Neill |first1=Claire |title=Tilt-Shift, Stop-Motion Squatting In Hillside Haiti |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2011/01/11/132832171/haiti |access-date=28 April 2021 |work=NPR |date=11 January 2011 |language=en |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428001755/https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2011/01/11/132832171/haiti |url-status=live }}

On island nations such as Fiji, Kiribati and Samoa, informal settlements are known as squatter settlements.{{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Paul |title=Searching for a little bit of utopia – understanding the growth of squatter and informal settlements in Pacific towns and cities |journal=Australian Planner |date=2011 |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=327–338 |doi=10.1080/07293682.2011.626565|s2cid=110121547 }} Unlike most Pacific Island countries, it is possible to sell or buy customary land in Kiribati. Zoning laws are not implemented by the government and not widely recognised by local people.{{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Paul |title=Managing urban development in the pacific: Key themes and issues |journal=Australian Planner |date=2005 |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=39–46 |doi=10.1080/07293682.2005.9982403|s2cid=109748860 }} On the island of Kiritimati, squatters live in both villages and on old Burns Philp copra plantations. On Rarotonga, the largest island in Cook Islands, three informal settlements are inhabited by people from Manihiki, Penrhyn and Pukapuka. The 3,000 dwellers are known as squatters although they have permission to live on the customary land.{{cite book |editor-last1=Mason |editor-first1=Leonard |editor-last2=Hereniko |editor-first2=Patricia |last1=Batchelor |first1=John |chapter=Squatters on Rarotonga, Cook Islands| title=In Search of a Home |year=1987 |isbn=978-982-01-0016-9 |pages=230–235 |publisher=Editorips@usp.ac.fj |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_2tuWK8JxIC&pg=PA230 |language=en}}

In the 19th century, the British government claimed to own all of Australia and tried to control land ownership. Wealthy farmers of livestock claimed land for themselves and thus were known as squatters.{{cite web |title=The squattocracy |url=http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/land-exploration/pastoral-practices/squattocracy |website=State Library of Victoria |access-date=14 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514150816/http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/land-exploration/pastoral-practices/squattocracy |archive-date=14 May 2019 |url-status=live }} This type of squatting is covered in greater detail at Squatting (Australian history). During the late 1940s the squatting of hundreds of empty houses and military camps, forced federal and state governments to provide emergency shelter during a period when Australians faced a shortage of more than 300 000 homes. In more recent times,{{Cite web |last=McIntyre |first=Iain |date=2020-08-31 |title=Squatting's place in winning Emergency Housing, 1945–48 |url=https://commonslibrary.org/squattings-place-in-winning-emergency-housing-1945-48/ |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU |archive-date=2022-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110072014/https://commonslibrary.org/squattings-place-in-winning-emergency-housing-1945-48/ |url-status=live }} there have been Australian squats in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney.{{Cite web |last=McIntyre |first=Iain |date=2020-08-31 |title=Resources About Australian Housing Justice and Unwaged Rights Campaigns |url=https://commonslibrary.org/resources-about-australian-housing-justice-and-unwaged-rights-campaigns/ |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU |archive-date=2022-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110072012/https://commonslibrary.org/resources-about-australian-housing-justice-and-unwaged-rights-campaigns/ |url-status=live }} The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was set up in 1972 and is a permanent protest occupation.{{Cite web |last=2SER-FM |date=2019-03-29 |title=The Aboriginal Tent Embassy |url=https://commonslibrary.org/the-aboriginal-tent-embassy/ |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU |archive-date=2022-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110072024/https://commonslibrary.org/the-aboriginal-tent-embassy/ |url-status=live }} The 2016 Bendigo Street housing dispute saw squatters successfully contesting road-building plans. The Midnight Star squat was used as a self-managed social centre in a former cinema, before being evicted after being used as a convergence space during the 2002 World Trade Organization meeting.{{cite journal |last1=Berry |first1=Vanessa |title=The Excess and Potential of the Movie Theatre Ruin: The Midnight Star |journal=Transformations |date=2016 |issue=28 |url=http://www.transformationsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Berry_Transformations28.pdf |access-date=14 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421143026/http://www.transformationsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Berry_Transformations28.pdf |archive-date=21 April 2018 |url-status=live }}

{{portal|Housing}}

{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Abandonment (legal)
• Claim club
• Homelessness
• Hunter-gatherer
• Intentional community
• Land grabbing
• Right to housing
• Squatters union
• Treesitting
• Temporary use

{{div col end}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons}}

{{refbegin|40em}}

• Bailey, R. (1973) The Squatters Penguin: UK {{ISBN|0140523006}}
• Bloomfield, F. A. (2021). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351310180_Ethnography_of_the_uses_practices_and_socio-spatial_interaction_in_okupa_squatted_spaces Ethnography of the uses, practices, and socio-spatial interaction in okupa (squatted) spaces] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507121620/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351310180_Ethnography_of_the_uses_practices_and_socio-spatial_interaction_in_okupa_squatted_spaces |date=2021-05-07 }}. Urbs: Revista de Estudios Urbanos y Ciencias Sociales, 11(1), 81–93.
• Corr, A. (1999) No Trespassing! Squatting, Rent Strikes and Land Struggles Worldwide South End Press {{ISBN|0-89608-595-3}}
• ADILKNO (1994) Cracking The Movement – Amsterdam squatter history and the movement's relation to the media. Also available [http://thing.desk.nl/bilwet/Cracking/contents.html online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050403090039/http://thing.desk.nl/bilwet/Cracking/contents.html |date=2005-04-03 }}
• Cracking The System (2008) – A zine about squats and social centres in Europe inspired by the april2008 initiative. Also available [https://web.archive.org/web/20140315133319/http://zinelibrary.info/cracking-the-system online].
• Curtis, H. & Sanderson, M. (2004) The Unsung Sixties Whiting & Birch {{ISBN|1861770448}}
• Dobbz, H. (2013) Nine-Tenths of the Law: Property and Resistance in the United States AK Press {{ISBN|978-184935118-8}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Kadir |first1=Nazima |title=The Autonomous Life?: Paradoxes of Hierarchy and Authority in the Squatters Movement in Amsterdam |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-78499-411-2 |edition=Reprint |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester |df=mdy-all }}
• Katsiaficas, G. (1999) The Subversion of Politics: European Autonomous Social Movements and the Decolonization of Everyday Life Humanity Books {{ISBN|1-57392-441-5}} Also available [http://www.eroseffect.com/books/subversion_download.htm online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930054115/http://www.eroseffect.com/books/subversion_download.htm |date=2018-09-30 }}
• Owens, L. (2009) Cracking the Movement: Narrating the Decline of the Amsterdam Squatters' Movement {{ISBN|978-0271034638}}
• {{Citation |last=Péchu |first=Cécile |title=Les squats |series=Contester |date=2010 |trans-title=Squats |url=https://doi.org/10.3917/scpo.pechu.2010.01 |place=Paris |publisher=Presses de Sciences Po (PSP)|doi=10.3917/scpo.pechu.2010.01 |isbn=978-2-7246-1169-4 |url-access=subscription }}
• Schmid, L. (2014) Häuserkampf im Berlin der 1980er Jahre: Squatting in Berlin in the 1980s {{ISBN|978-3863681098}}
• Squatting Europe Kollective (2013) {{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/852808016|title=Squatting in Europe : radical spaces, urban struggles|year=2013|publisher=Minor Compositions|others=Squatting Europe Kollective|isbn=978-1-57027-257-8|location=Wivenhoe [UK]|oclc=852808016|access-date=2020-10-19|archive-date=2020-12-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213165903/https://www.worldcat.org/title/squatting-in-europe-radical-spaces-urban-struggles/oclc/852808016|url-status=live}}
• Squatting Everywhere Kollective (2018) Fighting for spaces, Fighting for our lives: Squatting movements today {{ISBN|978-3-942885-90-4}}
• Tobocman, S. (reissued 2016) War in the Neighborhood New York: Autonomedia – a graphic novel about squatting on New York City's Lower East Side in the 1980s
• {{cite journal |last=Various |title=Naked Cities – Struggle in the Global Slums |url=http://www.metamute.org/Naked-Cities-Struggle-in-the-Global-Slums |journal=Mute Magazine |volume=2 |issue=3 |date=20 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220003336/http://www.metamute.org/Naked-Cities-Struggle-in-the-Global-Slums |archive-date=2011-12-20 }}
• {{cite book |last=Vasudevan |first=A. |title=The Autonomous City: A History of Urban Squatting |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y_qmDAAAQBAJ |url-status=live |publisher=Verso Books |year=2017 |access-date=2019-12-08 |isbn=978-1-78168-787-1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820032913/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y_qmDAAAQBAJ |archive-date=2020-08-20 }}
• Waterhouse, R. (2005) The Vision Splendid: A Social and Cultural History of Rural Australia, Fremantle, Curtain University Books
• Wittger, B. (2017) Squatting in Rio de Janeiro : constructing citizenship and gender from below Transcript-Verlag {{ISBN|978-3837635478}}

{{refend}}

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