Police use batons In Uptown Barcelona district as pro and anti-squatter groups march 

It was not a typical spring night in Bonanova, one among Barcelona’s extra prosperous suburbs. The truth is, this Thursday had been labeled as “D-Day” by the so-called Desokupa firm, which makes a speciality of evicting squatters from houses they’re occupying. The corporate itself was not seen in motion, however on a housing problem that has sharply divided opinion, the focus of pro-squatter and anti-squatter teams in Plaça de la Bonanova led to tense conditions, with incidents between some protesters and the Mossos police in Carrer del Solsonès.

 A professional-squatter group, who had arrived from Plaça Lesseps, tried to method Plaça de la Bonanova by this avenue, which had been blocked by the Mossos d’Esquadra, and this precipitated the primary violent incidents. The teams supporting the squatters didn’t settle for their exclusion from the world, and the Mossos enforced their perimeter with batons.

Within the neighborhood of Bonanova and Sant Gervasi, there was nice pressure attributable to two demonstrations that had been scheduled to finish in the identical place. One which left Plaça de Lesseps, in Gràcia, with round 500 individuals, referred to as by squatter teams within the metropolis, and that resulted in entrance of the 2 squatter homes in La Bonanova, the Kubo (“dice”) and the Ruina (“destroy”), which have develop into protagonists of immediately’s begin of the municipal election marketing campaign. The opposite demonstration happened in Plaça de Ferran de Casablancas and was referred to as by residents of the world and the Desokupa group. If the primary protest aimed to say the rights of occupants of the 2 squatter homes within the coronary heart of Sarrià, the second demanded the eviction of the squatters because of the regulation and order issues they generate within the neighborhood. This second demonstration attracted round 100 individuals.

As deliberate, the Mossos d’Esquadra deployed a main police operation that fully blocked off Plaça de la Bonanova with the purpose of avoiding confrontations between the 2 teams. That’s the reason they tried to maintain the 2 protest plenty separate always. The professional-squatter demonstration obtained jeers from some residents.

These two buildings, the Kubo and the Ruina will not be among the many historic facilities of the long-running anti-system wrestle within the metropolis of Barcelona. One was squatted in 2016 and the opposite in 2019. Regardless of having little exercise and few occupants – earlier than the outbreak of the issue solely about twenty individuals lived there – the confrontation with the neighbors and the participation of Desokupa, which squatters affiliate with the intense proper, has revived the motion, and now they’ve a community of assist that goes past the boundaries of this neighborhood within the metropolis of Barcelona.

The 2 homes are owned by Sareb, the so-called “dangerous” financial institution owned by the Spanish authorities, which has taken over the true property belongings of publicly rescued banks, and the financial institution has already requested for his or her eviction. As two separate properties, though related, two separate authorized proceedings needed to be carried out. That for the Kubo has already been accomplished and was even scheduled for March twenty third, however the police requested to postpone it in order that it could possibly be achieved on the identical day because the Ruina. The police justified this by making certain that, to be simpler and to have the ability to act extra safely within the face of attainable incidents, it was essential to evacuate each homes on the identical time.

Thus, a important date for all concerned is when the court docket strategy of the Ruina reaches its finish, when the choose of Barcelona Court docket 39 is anticipated to problem a ruling and set a day to hold out the eviction. This Thursday, hours earlier than the demonstration that was referred to as, it additionally grew to become identified that the choose had rejected the request for interim measures requested by the proprietor who wished to hold out an categorical eviction. Thus, the subsequent date will probably be in June. The Mossos police are assured that the strain will calm, particularly after the municipal elections, however a everlasting operation will probably be maintained with plainclothes and uniformed brokers to keep away from confrontations.

Produced in affiliation with El Nacional En