The Gràcia Housing Union has called a mobilization to try to stop the second eviction attempt of Txema Escorsa at the property on Sant Agustí street, 14, in the Gràcia neighborhood. The possible eviction is scheduled for Wednesday, April 15, and the protest will start already during the previous night given the possibility that the judicial entourage arrives at dawn.
The call asks to spend the night in front of the building's door. The union asks those who attend to bring sleeping bags to remain in the street until early morning. For those who cannot stay overnight, the call has been set for 5:00 in the morning.
Second attempt in less than a month
It is not the first mobilization in this building. The union already promoted another concentration last March 23, when it coincided with a first eviction attempt. Now, the organization is again calling for protest in a block where there are still five tenants and where Escorsa is the first with an eviction order.
The Sant Agustí, 14 property has 11 flats and is owned by New Amsterdam Developers. Housing entities maintain that the property's objective is to transform the flats into co-living spaces, known as colivings. They also assure that this business model expels residents from the neighborhoods.
Institutional reaction after the first attempt
Weeks after the first launch attempt, the Minister of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition, Sílvia Paneque, announced that the Government would open a file on the property after detecting possible irregularities. Along the same lines, the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, assured that all legal mechanisms would be activated to protect the residents.
The City Council also demanded to stop the eviction. From the council, it was also conveyed that this case could not be another Casa Orsola because, for now, the property has not shown intention to sell the estate.
A block under pressure in Gràcia
"If the eviction occurs it will be a scandal" - Txema Escorsa
The mobilization planned in Sant Agustí arrives in a context of maximum tension between the residents and housing entities, who keep the focus on this block in Gràcia awaiting whether the eviction scheduled for the early morning of April 15 is finally carried out.