The Catalan Housing Trade Union Confederation has demanded that the Barcelona City Council immediately stop all evictions in city settlements and activate a shock plan to guarantee the rights and safety of the people living in these spaces. The demand was made public this Thursday at a press conference in Sant Jaume square, where the entity has denounced the proliferation of this type of action in the Catalan capital.
The platform, which groups around thirty entities for the right to housing, has placed the focus on the eviction carried out last week in the vicinity of the Pont del Treball Digne, in Barcelona. During the appearance, its spokespersons have criticized the municipal intervention and have linked that operation with other open procedures in the Sagrera area.
Concern over a new eviction in La Sagrera
One of the central points of the complaint has been the situation of a settlement next to the old Sagrera station, in the baixada de la Sagrera, where about 70 people live. Marcel Minoves, from the Sindicat d"Habitatge de la Sagrera, has assured that residents have already been warned that they will be evicted and has expressed special concern about the imminence of that action.
"It is a settlement where there are sick people, animals and people who cannot move" - Marcel Minoves, Sindicat d"Habitatge de la Sagrera
The entities maintain that, if that eviction comes to be executed, the council would be violating the law of equal treatment and non-discrimination. Along those lines, they have filed an administrative appeal with the aim of stopping the action, understanding that the administration has not exhausted the pertinent administrative channels.
Criticisms of the previous operation
During the appearance, Marta Espriu, spokesperson for COSHAC, has criticized the municipal action in La Sagrera and has pointed out that while an attempt was made to stop the eviction of a person on Sant Agustí street, the City Council deployed a large operation in another part of the city.
"While we were stopping Txema's eviction on Sant Agustí street, the City Council was sending more than 10 vans of the Urban Guard's riot police to La Sagrera to evict 200 people" - Marta Espriu, COSHAC
The organization interprets this type of interventions as part of a sustained dynamic of evictions of settlements in Barcelona. Its request to the municipal government is to paralyze these actions and articulate social response measures for the affected people.
Comparison with Badalona
At the event, Sadio Faye, former resident of building B9 in Badalona, also intervened, who has denounced the situation of helplessness of those who lose their place of residence and are again expelled from the spaces where they try to settle.
"I am in a house and they kick me out, I go under a bridge and they kick me out, from the street too. Where do I have to go, upwards? I don't have to touch ground, right?" - Sadio Faye, former resident of building B9 in Badalona
COSHAC has compared the policies of the municipal government of Badalona, headed by Xavier García Albiol, with those of Jaume Collboni's executive in Barcelona. Marta Espriu has stated that she does not appreciate differences between both actions and has described them as classist and racist, demanding a frontal rejection by those who defend human rights.
The pressure from the entities is now concentrated on preventing the announced eviction in the baixada de la Sagrera, while maintaining the demand that the City Council change its approach and give a housing and social response to the people living in settlements in the city.