Violent squatters' riots in Amsterdam two weeks ago may have been orchestrated, the public prosecutor in the Dutch capital has said. The authorities have started an investigation into the alleged "organisers of the excessive violence".

On 1 October 2010, when a new anti-squatting law came into force, 200 protesters clashed with police after a peaceful demonstration. Two policemen, one horse and an unknown number of squatters were injured, one of them sustaining serious head injuries. The protesters broke into an unoccupied house and threw stones, glassware, furniture and rubbish at the police.

Planning
Witnesses said that the projectiles had been stored at strategic street corners days before. Such preparations are unusual in the Netherlands. Police sources say that in other countries anarchist riots are often meticulously planned by groups like "the Black Block". Police in the United States, for instance, suspect that May Day riots in Santa Cruz were the work of an organised group of anarchists.

The Indymedia.nl website, quoting a Parool newspaper report on the alleged preparation of the riots, summarises the announcement by the prosecutor as "Criminalisation of squatters movement and of squatters demo continues."

Fundamental right
On Thursday a group of squatters, describing themselves as the Hypocrisy Collective, started summary proceedings against the Dutch State. They argued that evictions carried out under the new anti-squatting law are in breach of the fundamental right to inviolability of the home.

On Wednesday, in another case, a court in Amsterdam sentenced four of the 1 October rioters to 80 hours community service each, but the judicial authorities said these four are just "small fry". It was this case which sparked the separate, more thorough investigation announced on Thursday. It will look into the likelihood that the 1 October violence was premeditated and organised.