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Squat Milada is a First Republic villa in the Libeň district of Prague. Milada was intended to be demolished in the 1980s and deleted from the cadastre. Therefore, it was a house which officially did not exist. It became one of the Czech Republic's best known squatting, occupied from 1997 until 2009, and reoccupied for a day in 2012. Acting as a self-managed social centre and infoshop 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.
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 self-managed social centre was used as an infoshop, a bicycle repair workshop, a cafe, a meeting space and a venue for Punk rock gigs and experimental music. A Food Not Bombs 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.
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, the Minister for Human Rights and Minorities.
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 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 and were dismissed in 2022.
Charles University 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.
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