Barcelona: Riot as Police Evict Occupied Center for Luxury Flats

from La Directa  At 7 am, the eviction of the  Ca la Trava occupied center in the Gràcia neighborhood of Barcelona began. Early on, a helicopter was flying over the area and the Mossos Police deployed ten vans of the anti-riot unit.

One of the vehicles was equipped with stairs to access the building and a panoramic camera. The squatter launched warning rockets to convene a solidarity concentration on the crossing of Gràcia with Torrent de l’Olla street, and resisted in the building.

According to Ca la Trava, two people have been detained, information that has been confirmed by the police. From the Catalan police statement, they claimed that when they had access to the building there were nine people inside, two have only been identified and have left voluntarily. Four of the remainder were seized, two were charged for Resistance against The Authority and the other two were administratively sanctioned by the so-called gag law, the citizen security law 4/2015. 

First Demo the same Evening

Protesters have burned containers in protest at the eviction of Ca La Trava occupied self run Social Center .The center is owned by a big property speculator who has permission to demolish it for luxury flats. The Gracia barrio is plagued with a spiral of property vultures and mass tourism and living space costs € 4,379 per m².”The Mossos police arrested a person and reported two more for public disorder during the riots of this Thursday evening in the neighborhood of Gràcia de Barcelona. The protests are began as a rally of more than 300 people who have marched through the streets of the neighborhood in protest of the eviction – this morning – of a property occupied at number 154 of the Travessera de Gràcia, known as Ca La Trava”.Some of the protesters have burnt containers and damaged a real estate office, a bank branch and a tourist flat. The protest started at Virreina Square, at half past eight in the evening, and it ended at the place where Raspall was arrested. The police agents have claimed that the boy arrested was in possession of fire-lighters.

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Ca la Trava or luxury apartments

A second hand flat  Gràcia costs € 4,379 per m², the average rental price was € 856 per month in 2017, there are 1,081 hotels, hotel-apartments and pensions in the District.

 In December 2016, a group of students, workers, etc occupied the buildings located at numbers 154 and 156 of the Travessera de Gràcia in Barcelona. The first block was called Jahnela and hosted the ‘Gràcia Housing Office’ occupied project.

Next door was Ca La Trava. “We organized ourselves as the -Housing Office of Gracia-, a group that offers solutions to the various housing problems, either by stopping eviction, defending neighbors in cases of real estate harassment, or by helping to squat to guarantee everyone access to decent housing, “they explained to their founding manifesto.

The block of Ca La Trava is property of the ‘ Inmobiliaria Mar SL’, also owned by the huge developer and construction company ‘La Llave de Oro’. ” It was in disuse for a long time and when we entered, we found it deliberately damaged to make  it uninhabitable” assure the occupiersNegotiations with the City Council and property owners failed  and the eviction confirmed through criminal law for demolition to build ‘luxury homes. “

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The first post eviction demo the same evening was lively with slogans such as “Ca La Trava eviction means riots”, “Whoever Rules We are Ungovernable”and “One Eviction = One new Occupation”, among others, and stopped before the former Expropriated Bank, where they graffitied and threw firecrackers  and set fire to rubbish containers. 

The Local Police arrested one person and have denounced two more

The Riot Police followed the route of the protesters from police vans, located behind the demonstrators who were finally dispersed after they caused destruction in premises and urban furniture.

This Real Estate Office was damaged in the protests.

Self-managed and housing projects built in squatting areas such as Ca La Trava, Armadillo or the Expropriated Bank were threatened with eviction in the Gracia barrio suffering the pressure of tourism and the increase in prices in the purchase and rent of housing.

Faced with the problems of accessing decent housing in the city of Barcelona and specifically in the neighborhood of Gràcia, in December 2016, a group of students, workers and people without economic resources occupied the buildings located in numbers 154 and 156 of the Travessera de Gràcia in Barcelona. The first block was called Jahnela and hosted the Gràcia Housing Office. Next door was Ca La Trava.