Private security company carries out chaotic eviction in Mitte
Doors kicked in, windows smashed, sinks destroyed, the electricity and water supply shut off. These were the results of an incident this Wednesday, which saw a private security company hired by the real estate firm Arcadia Estates attempt to forcibly evict a residential building in Mitte.
The address in question was Habersaathstrasse 42-48. Shortly after 9am, a group of 20 security guards and construction workers appeared in front of the building and presented a letter signed by Arcadia Estates GmbH. The letter instructed residents to hand over the keys, and informed them that in one hour the owner would shut off water and electricity. Soon, security services entered the building and began to disassemble the property.
Left wing activists had gathered to protest the eviction of the residents, quite a few of whom were previously homeless and were living in the property for free. The eviction order was signed by the Mitte district office in August 2022 but – according to the initiative “Leerstand Hab-ich-Saath” – the permit had expired by the end of July, making Wednesday’s eviction illegal.
The Mitte district office has since commented that they plan to ”invite the owner to a meeting…in order to discuss the current situation…and to urge that all possibly illegal measures be stopped immediately.”
