Fort Pannerden

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Fort Pannerden is a disused military fort situated near to the village of Pannerden in the east of the Netherlands. In November 2006, it became the focus of national news stories because a group of squatters were evicted in a large-scale operation by police, helped by the army. Later on in the same month, it was resquatted.

1 History
2 Recent Events
3 References
4 External Links

[edit] History

The fort was constructed between 1869 and 1871 to serve as part of the New Dutch Waterline. It had strategic significance in that it guarded the Pannerden Canal, but the fort never saw active service. In World War One the Netherlands was neutral and in World War Two the fort was surrounded and surrendered without a shot being fired. After 1945, the building fell into disuse.

[edit] Recent Events

From 1988 onwards, there have been attempts to repair the fort. On June 12 2000, the fort was squatted. Working with local residents and Stichting Fort Pannerden (a foundation set up to mintain and promote the fort), the squatters carried out essential repairs and held a monthly open day. The local city council (gemeente Lingewaard) forbade the open days and the owner, Staatsbosbeheer, took the squatters to court, saying it wanted to make a museum there.^[1] The owner won the court case.

After the squatters refused to leave, they were evicted in a two day operation by police, riot police and army forces beginning November 7, 2006. Twenty five squatters were removed from inside the building.^[2]

On November 25, 2006, the fort was resquatted by a group of between eighty and one hundred squatters.^[3] After first threatening to evict the fort again despite the huge costs involved, the council signed a contract in December with the squatters. The squatters agreed not to live there, but four out of the group are now responsible for the upkeep of the building.^[4] The open days are once more permitted. ^[5]