The tension is rising again in the neighborhood of Sant Gervasi-la Bonanova. The Kubo and Ruina squatters are doubling down on threats. Like the other time, like the weeks before the last municipal elections... Then, Vox, Valents and Ciutadans showed that they were the most anti-occupiers. In addition, the extrajudicial eviction company Desokupa tried to take advantage of the circumstances to win customers. The next attempt to evict the two estates that have been the flagship of Barcelona's squatter movement for years will take place on November 30.
The squatters warn on the networks that "our homes will be battlefields". "We do not recognize their authority, we do not respect their laws, we do not legitimize their sentences." "The last attempt went badly, and this one will go worse". "We accept the challenge, we take on the conflict". "Let them bear the cost". A few days ago they already said that if they evict them the neighborhood will burn. They see it as the defense of another way of living.
"The Mossos have already told us to get ready - say some traders in Plaça Bonanova and its surroundings - that we will have to protect the shop windows, that squatters from all over the city are preparing to stop the evictions". "We are worried. These buildings detract from the neighborhood. It would be best if they disappeared. We hope that the politicians will not complicate everything again for partisan interests". "We don't like the squatters, but until the politicians and Desokupa came in, nothing happened." "For now everything is calm, too much...".
These days the properties have the entrenched Mad Max-style look they acquired before the previous eviction attempt, when the squatters, blower in hand, fortified them with municipal works fences. Neighbors, porters and caretakers say that squatters have been more discreet, reserved and fugitive than ever.
"They used to have parties every 15 days, and a lot of people came." "They always had a great ability to call." "They made paelladas and barbeques every two by three, and then they had fun playing with each other." "Before you noticed them..., now you know they are there because you see lights on at night". "And now they turn off the lights in the corridors, which used to be left on all night. Because they don't pay for electricity!". "I think the squatters will eat the grapes there. They won't be able to kick them out. All this is the result of many years of institutional neglect, so many that now everything is very complicated". "I don't know how many years ago we lived next to a hardware store".
Most of Kubo and Ruina belong to Sareb, while 40% is owned by two limited companies. Sources from the Asset Management Company from the Banking Restructuring explain that when the properties are vacated they will take the appropriate measures so that they are never occupied again. "Our security department is very aware of everything. It's just that Kubo's eviction was only scheduled in the spring, and that caused many security problems. That is why the eviction was finally suspended. We are not aware that there are vulnerable people. In this case, we would have taken other measures."
Sareb will then try to sell her share of ownership of the estates. The sources emphasize that this is not a real estate pilot, that the Ruina could be used as housing after a major rehabilitation, but that a large part of the Kubo is affected by a modification of the General Metropolitan Plan and will one day be expropriated and demolished to widen the street and open a green area.
"Yes - explain the residents of the area - this has been talked about since before the bullion crisis occurred. I still remember when the previous owners presented the project to the presidents of the surrounding communities. But the crisis thwarted everything. And to Jaume Asens and Gerardo Pisarello, when they were councilors responsible for the district, we told them that something had to be done, but...".
The situation will heat up in the coming days. Vox was the party that made the most of the tension. Finally, he obtained two councilors and entered the City Council for the first time. Citizens and Valents, on the other hand, lost all the municipal representatives. Gonzalo de Oro, spokesperson for Vox, details that his group will demand that the government of Mayor Jaume Collboni establish a security protocol to quell any possible disturbance after the evictions, "so that the same thing as in Can Vies does not happen, and, in the event that the City Council still allows Barcelona to continue to be the great theme park for squatters and criminals, we will adopt other measures, we will consider organizing some kind of mobilization to defend the residents of the neighborhood."
Anna Grau, spokeswoman for Citizens in Parliament and the last candidate of the formation for the Consistory of Barcelona, remembers that she still concentrates in front of the Ruïna and the Kubo since April, that when she talks to the people of the neighborhood she has the impression that the 'City council is not prepared to address the situation, let's see what happens... "The squatters spent the summer in their second residences. It was a good time to get the buildings back. But the sociological collusion continues in the City Council”.
Fortunately, and at least for now, there is no news regarding Desokupa.
