Squat Milada is a First Republic villa in the

Libeň Libeň () is a cadastral area and district of Prague, Czech Republic. It was incorporated into Prague in 1901. Places * Praha-Libeň railway station Demographics People * Reinhard Heydrich, assassinated here * Herz Homberg, born here ...

district of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. Milada was intended to be demolished in the 1980s and deleted from the

cadastre A cadastre or cadaster ( ) is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in ...

. Therefore, it was a house which officially did not exist. It became one of the Czech Republic's best known

squats Squat, squatter or squatting may refer to: Body position * Squatting position, a sitting position where one's knees are folded with heels touching one's buttocks or back of the thighs * Squat (exercise), a lower-body exercise in strength and co ...

, occupied from 1997 until 2009, and reoccupied for a day in 2012. Acting as a

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 ...

and

infoshop Infoshops are places in which people can access anarchist or autonomist ideas. They are often stand-alone projects, or can form part of a larger radical bookshop, archive, self-managed social centre or community centre. Typically, infoshops offer ...

hosting concerts and events, Milada was also home to a number of people. Despite various plans for the site, as of 2023, the building was standing derelict.

History

Milada is a First Republic villa located in the

district of

, next to two blocks of flats (Kolej 17. listopadu) housing university students. As part of plans for its demolition, Milada had been removed from the

and thefore no longer existed officially. Left derelict in 1988, Milada was occupied in 1997, along with the neighbouring villa, Miluška.

Social centre

Milada was raided twice by the police in the summer of 1998 and was also attacked by representatives of the owner. In October 1998, a private security firm attempted to evict the building but was repelled, with two squatters remaining on the roof for four days. The security guards trashed the house but were unable to evict it. Students from a nearby housing block strung a line of rope across so that they could supply the occupiers with food and drink. Originally occupied as a "Point of Free Culture and Resistance", the project then changed into a residential community. Over time, the number of events being organised declined until in 2007, a new collective was formed. The

was used as an

, a bicycle repair workshop, a cafe, a meeting space and a venue for

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

gigs and experimental music. A

Food Not Bombs Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, sharing free, usually vegan and vegetarian food with others. The group believes that corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of ...

collective cooked out of the building, which also housed people. Milada had become one of the longest-lasting and well-known squats in the Czech Republic, alongside

Ladronka Ladronka is a homestead () situated in a park in Břevnov, Prague 6, in the Czech Republic. Built by Charles IV in 1340, it was bought by an Italian count, then owned by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta before being broken into flats durin ...

. In March 2009, the building was re-registered by the owner, the Institute for Information in Education (ÚIV), as a first step before selling it. ÚIV decided to evict the squat in early July 2009. It sent a private security firm supported by the police to clear the building. The squatters resisted the eviction and eight of them sat on the roof. This resulted in a standoff, with the fire brigade being called to negotiate with the last occupiers. It became a controversial story in the mainstream media and prompted a response from

Michael Kocáb Michael Kocáb (born 28 July 1954) is a Czech composer, singer, and political activist. He is the leader of Pražský výběr, a popular music band suppressed by the Czechoslovak communist regime in the 1980s. At the spring 1989 Kocab with ...

, the Minister for Human Rights and Minorities.

Post-eviction

Shortly after the eviction, two squatters re-occupied the building for a short time in order to highlight concerns that it was going to be demolished. Protests against the eviction were held in other Czech cities and in Prague a former spa was occupied in Albertov. The occupation was evicted the next day, with over 70 arrests. The people who had gone inside the building were charged with trespassing and in 2011, the charges were dropped. After the eviction, Kocáb offered the squatters a place to stay at Truhlářská Street in the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

. This became known as Truhla, hosting events until June 2010. A party at Milada to mark three years since the eviction was broken up by the police on 30 June 2012. A helicopter and 100 police arrested 25 people for various offences. In 2015, there was a debate in the media as the

Supreme Administrative Court A supreme administrative court is the highest court in a country with jurisdiction over lower administrative courts and the administrative decisions of the authorities, but not the legislative decisions (laws) made by the government (which are unde ...

considered an appeal regarding the legality of the eviction of Milada. Two complaints by activists concerning their treatment during the eviction went to the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

and were dismissed in 2022.

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

had planned to set up a small campus at Milada, but failed to transfer the ownership of the building from the Institute for Information in Education in 2010. After the eviction, the university tried again, without success. In 2019, the building was still standing derelict; it was owned by the Office of Government Representation in Property Affairs (ÚZSVM) and there were no plans to restore the villa. In 2021, the university was able to buy the Milada site for CZK 56,753,000. It made plans to redevelop it into a campus. As of 2023, the building remained derelict.

References

External links

Prazdne Domy

Social centre
(archived) {{Authority control Anarchist movements DIY culture Infoshops Evicted squats Squatting in the Czech Republic 2009 in the Czech Republic 1997 in the Czech Republic Buildings and structures in Prague