Constitutional Court rules against Klinika squatters’ appeal to stay at Prague site

Activists have lost an appeal to remain at an abandoned building in Prague 3 taken over by squatters in 2014 that now houses the alternative Klinika social and arts centre.

The Constitutional Court said in a resolution rejecting the appeal that just because a building has been out of use for a long period does not give others the right to occupy it.

If the state wants to in effect legalise squatting, it must do so through legislative changes, the court said.

The state has sold the Žižkov district building to the Railway Infrastructure Administration, which wants to reconstruct it to house part of its operations.