Police enter building occupied by Vallcarca protesters and find it empty

Catalan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, have entered a building that was occupied on Thursday by protesters against evictions in Vallcarca and found no one inside.

A police source reported that the police presence at the site on Avinguda República Argentina has been reduced while the company that owns the building takes measures to prevent it being reoccupied.

Workers have sealed the main entrance to the property again after a group of demonstrators broke in during a protest held in the neighborhood on Thursday evening.

Around 500 people gathered at the demonstration, which was called after Barcelona City Council and police evicted the informal housing located under the viaduct in Vallcarca on Thursday morning.

The Mossos d'Esquadra deployed twenty anti-riot vans in the area before 10am on Friday, after the company that owns the property filed a complaint with police, according to a police source.

They pointed out that since it was a "hot" occupation, not established as a permanent residence, an express eviction could be carried out without judicial authorization.

In the end, however, police intervention was not necessary because officers found the building completely empty.

Aran Llivina, a member of the Som Barri neighborhood association, said that the entities that support the residents of the Vallcarca settlement made the decision to occupy the property on Avinguda República Argentina on Thursday evening in order to offer those affected an alternative housing option, as the city council "had not offered them any."

The property is owned by a Tarragona company that constructs tourist apartments and had been uninhabited for nearly four years, Llivian said.

"We believed that it was a good example of what is happening in the city in terms of real estate speculation and that at the same time it was an opportunity to take a building out of the speculative circuit and put it into real use." 

Six activists slept inside the building on Thursday night, Llivina said. When they saw the Mossos gathering at Gràcia police station they decided to leave of their own accord.

"We decided that it was not worth facing arrest or having our details taken down," she said.

Occupation

Protesters against the eviction of the Vallcarca informal housing settlement in Barcelona's Gràcia district occupied an empty three-storey building at number 34, Avinguda República Argentina on Thursday evening.

The entrance had been blocked with bricks and cement, but a group of protesters, hiding behind umbrellas and a banner, managed to break through and enter.

Around 500 people demonstrated in protest against the eviction of the Vallcarca shantytown settlement, which was carried out by Barcelona City Council on Thursday morning, with police holding protesters at bay.

Six people announced their intention to spend the night in the new occupied building, including some of those who were evicted from Vallcarca.

The spokesperson for the Som Barri neighborhood organization, accused the Socialist-led council of "governing for the rich" and "not being up to the task" of offering solution to people living in informal housing.

Llivina stressed that the neighborhood organization agrees that there should be no shantytowns, but they are against evicting people from such situations "with no alternative."