Tension at a multiple home eviction in Barcelona's El Raval district between police and activists. The Sindicat d'Habitatge del Raval - the Raval Housing Union - warned this Wednesday that evictions were to be attempted at three flats, where around a dozen people live, at number 106, Carrer del Carme, as well as a fourth on nearby Carrer Robadors in the central Barcelona neighbourhood. Around 3pm, the organization reported that they had managed to stop two of the planned evictions. In the process of removing the activists that were blocking police entry to the buildings, one person was injured and was evacuated in an EMS ambulance that was on site, according to EFE. The union stated that two people ended up in the emergency room.
From the early hours of the morning, housing rights movements called for support on the street and dozens of activists responded in Carrer del Carme, where officers removed people one by one. Several Mossos d'Esquadra paddy wagons arrived at the site and removed the activists who were on the parapet to prevent the evictions, while another large group gave vocal support to the residents facing eviction, chanting and throwing coloured smoke devices at an extensive police operation. The Mossos d'Esquadra closed the street to passers-by and journalists, not letting anyone approach the sites of the evictions.
According to the Housing Union, the people whose eviction was sought from the four flats had been certified by social services as vulnerable, although not all of them are registered with the Emergency Board to be able to obtain social housing. At the last minute, the eviction of one of the four homes was stopped by court order, in application of the moratorium on evictions in cases of vulnerability. This was a family of seven members, of whom four are minors.
Barcelona city council sources informed the ACN that the affected families were assisted by the city's housing office and the service for intervention in processes of loss of housing (SIPHO). In the case of the eviction that was cancelled, the council provided assistance in completing the procedures to opt for social housing through the Emergency Board, from whom the family has had a favourable report since January 2024. Thus, the expectation is that they will be allocated social housing. A request has also been made to obtain the Lloguer Social - Social Rent - which property owners are required to provide, but this was rejected. The Union advises that proceedings will be opened to assess whether this constitutes an infringement.
In the other two cases - two apartments, home to two young single men - the council has offered social care and mediation. The two files have been assessed by the Emergency Committee, but the result was that they were adjudged not to have met the requirements. The Raval housing body added that the block is owned by the vulture fund Cerberus (specifically, by Optimum Re Spain Socimi S.A.) and that in the four flats facing eviction orders, residents include people who were members of the housing organization.
When the multiple eviction ended (after more than eight hours), the housing body reported that they had stopped two of the four planned ejection processes. After criticizing the actions of the Mossos police and the judges, the organization asserted that "if there is one thing that is really shown by the fact that almost a dozen people have been left on the street, it is the total inability of institutions and politicians to cope with problems of housing and other social conflicts". "We see this very clearly, and that is why we continue to back free, universal and quality housing, because economic capacity cannot be a factor in deciding if people have a roof over their head", added the Union.