On May 13, 2010, members and supporters of the City is for All group formed a „living chain” at 3 Koppány utca in the 9th district of Budapest to prevent the eviction of the Varga family. The family (a mother, father and a 7-year-old child) had been squatting a substandard social housing unit in the run-down building for 8 months. The family has been trying to get legal tenant rights to the apartment, which the local housing authority has refused in several occasions.

After hours of standstill, the police broke up our chain and 15 activists were arrested and detained for 8 hours. The activists are represented by the lawyer of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ).

After the police and representatives of the local housing agency forced their way through our two living chains (one formed in front of the building and another in front of the family), they walled up the apartment, threatened other squatters in the building to leave and employed a 24-hour security guard to keep an eye on the remaining empty social housing units.

There are 1100 familes waiting for social housing in the district. The average waiting time is 10 years. At the same time, there are hundreds of empty and unused social housing units available in the district.

A video of the action with English subtitles originally produced by Index.hu

Pictures of the action and the building.