De Grote Broek ( English: ''The Big Trousers'') is a legalised squat and

self-managed social centre A self-managed social center, also known as an autonomous social center, is a self-organized community center in which Anti-authoritarianism, anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venue ...

in central

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

in the Netherlands. It was occupied in 1984 and legalised from 2002 onwards. It spans two sides of a

city block A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. In a city with a grid system, the block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are th ...

and has entrances on both Van Broeckhuysenstraat and Tweede Walstraat. The project consists of two separate housing co-operatives living above a cafe on one side and Extrapool and a music venue on the other. Groups with shared political objectives are hosted at the centre.

History of building

The building was first used by two newspapers, the Provinciale Geldersche and the Nijmeegsche Courant. Afterwards it was a furniture shop before becoming derelict in the 1980s.

Occupation

De Grote Broek was

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

on November 4, 1984. At first it was called De Grote Karel ( English: the Big Karel) after the owner's name. The name later became De Grote Broek since one side of the block is on Van Broeckhuysenstraat. One resident was Louis Sévèke.

Legalisation

Following the death of the owner in 2002, the city of Nijmegen bought the building and a legalisation process began. Negotiations were made between the occupiers and a housing corporation, Standvast Wonen. The squatters therefore became renters and the renovations were completed in 2009.

Activities

*The cafe is called De Klinker and serves vegan food. It actually began in another squat in the 1970s. There is also an anarchist library called De Zwarte Uil ( English: The Black Owl). *The venue is called De Onderbroek ( English: The Underpants). It is located in the basement and hosts a variety of events, including punk and hardcore gigs. It is running since 1986. * Extrapool is an

artist-run initiative An artist-run space or artist-run centre (Canada) is a gallery or other facility operated or directed by artists, frequently circumventing the structures of public art centers, museums, or commercial galleries and allowing for a more experimental ...

. * Anarchist Black Cross Nijmegen. *Stichting Gast works with migrants. *Stichting Straatmensen works with homeless people.

Recent events

The Grote Broek celebrated 30 years of existence in November 2014. In 2018, an extreme right group was offended by the Grote Broek organising a 'Refugees Welcome' picnic. The group demonstrated for the closure of the centre, which they termed "a violent breeding ground for extreme leftism". In the same time period there were also scuffles outside the Grote Broek between right wing supporters of

Zwarte Piet Zwarte Piet (; ; ; ), also known in English by the translated name Black Pete, is a companions of Saint Nicholas, companion of Saint Nicholas. (; ; ; ) in the folklore of the Low Countries. Traditionally, Zwarte Piet serves as an assistant to ...

celebrations and leftwingers who see it as racism. In 2019, someone was arrested near the Grote Broek and charged with making a death threat against politician

Thierry Baudet Thierry Henri Philippe Baudet (; born 28 January 1983) is a Dutch politician, author, and self-declared Conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorist. He is the founder and leader of the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD), for which he has been a memb ...

because the previous day she had been at a demonstration in Amsterdam and had sung "If you want to shoot Thierry dead say pow!" ( Dutch: Als je Thierry dood wil schieten, zeg dan paf!).

References