Last Wednesday, the municipal police have evicted the A Insumisa social centre in Galician city A Coruña. The space originally belonged to the Ministry of Defense until, after more than 15 years of abandonment, it was ceded to the city council. In November 2016, it was reclaimed by residents of A Coruña and since then it has been carrying out a range of social and cultural activities organized through open assemblies.

After it was occupied and set up as a social centre, the city council came up with their own proposal to turn the space to a cultural project similar to the one already set up by the citizens: except that it was to be managed by the council. The council’s proposal was rejected by the local residents and participants of A Insumisa, who defended the local self-managed project that already worked well without the intervention of the town hall and without public funding. After this defeat, the city council initiated the eviction process, which was finalised last Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, fifteen hours after the deadline for the eviction, the local police turned up at the door, and were met with locals gathered outside to defend the space. During the eviction there have been police charges that have resulted in several people being injured, some with blows to the head. The police also used tear gas.

Two women climbed the roof of the Insumisa and resisted police attempts to take them down while the solidarity gathering remained at the doors. Continue reading “Spain: A Insumisa social centre evicted”