About thirty people gathered this Friday afternoon in front of a block on Ramon Turró street, in Poblenou, to try to stop the eviction of several people from inside the building. The mobilization was promoted by the Sindicat d"Habitatge de la Verneda i el Besòs, while the Mossos d"Esquadra cordoned off access to the area shortly after.
Police intervention in the building
The operation was activated after the property formally reported the occupation of some flats during the morning of this Friday. Police sources maintain that the property belongs to a company and that the agents moved to the estate to evict the people who would have entered several homes.
The Mossos maintain that it is a case of an alleged flagrant crime of illegal occupation. With that criterion, the force deployed personnel around the building and restricted passage at the accesses while the intervention was taking place.
The version of the union
The Housing Union of La Verneda and El Besòs assures, for its part, that the property has been trying for some time to empty the building to reform it and divide it into smaller apartments. The organization frames what happened in a context of real estate pressure and maintains that the company has refused to renew rental contracts for tenants of other apartments in the block.
Always according to this version, three families occupied some flats last Tuesday. The union defends that this entry into the homes was a response to that situation and also assures that this Friday's police action occurred after the alarm went off in a home that, it maintains, had not been occupied.
Neighborhood call in Poblenou
Before the rally, the union launched an appeal on social media to ask for the presence of neighbors in front of the block and try to prevent the eviction. The call gathered about thirty people in front of the property, in a very specific point of the neighborhood where the police presence was visible during the afternoon.
The situation unfolded with the building surrounded by the Mossos d'Esquadra and with two conflicting accounts about the origin of the intervention. While the police link it to a property complaint for an occupation reported that same day, the neighborhood collective insists that the conflict has been dragging on for some time due to the management of the property and the future of its homes.