Barcelona evicts those expelled from the Free Trade Zone once again

BarcelonaIt's the first morning of Ramadan, and about thirty young Algerians are more worried about what will happen tomorrow, Thursday, when they'll be evicted again to clean the space than about how they'll spend the hours until they break their religious fast. They are among the 175 people who were evicted last week. evicted from a vacant lot on 2nd Street in the Free Trade Zone which, according to the Barcelona City Council, was infested with rats. The group then dispersed through streets and other areas of the industrial park, the Ronda Litoral ring road, and Montjuïc mountain, far from residential buildings. On Tuesday, officers from the Guardia Urbana (Barcelona's municipal police) informed them that a cleaning crew would arrive on Thursday at 7:00 a.m. to remove anything they hadn't collected. They would only be allowed to set up their tent encampment again after 8:00 p.m. and would have to leave by 8:00 a.m.

"Where are we going? We have no alternative," insists Hichem, who doesn't want to be identified, echoing the situation from last week. Beside him, Ayoub explains that on Tuesday, the cleaning crews took away a Palestinian boy's belongings when they went to tell them that the countdown to the eviction had begun.

"The boy had to run after the truck and beg them to return his things, but he only managed to get his documents back," recounts a resident outside the shops, located just a few meters from the vacant lot sprayed with chemicals to combat the rat infestation, and which is now enclosed by a metal fence. Sources from the Free Trade Zone Consortium, which had requested last week's action from the City Council, maintain that they have not requested any evictions, although they admit that the lots are "full of garbage" and are willing to carry out regular cleanings to avoid "reaching the levels of filth and unsanitary conditions" of the street.

"Covert eviction"

The young people explain that they have no other option than this vacant lot, where they believe they "don't bother" anyone. A few meters away is the municipal shelter, where they can shower and wash their clothes several days a week. The rest of the time they wash next to their tents. Almost all of them have been in the country long enough to be eligible for the program. extraordinary regularization process that the Spanish government is preparing starting in April, and they wonder why they are being expelled.

For social organizations, the City Council's actions are, once again, a "disguised eviction" justified "with the excuse of public health," without offering these people any alternative or services to spend the day outside the camp. Eva Hobeich, head of the legal team at Arrels, criticizes the fact that the only aim is "to wear them down and cause them emotional exhaustion" so they will move elsewhere. "But they are not going to disappear. The only thing that happens is that life is made more difficult for these people, since there is no support plan or services, and their rights are not respected," concludes the expert, who asks people to imagine what it would be like "to have to move every day."

Activist Ferran Arméstar also... Homeless Health VolunteerHe regrets that the most disadvantaged and vulnerable are once again being targeted, and that the "ultimatum" formula is being repeated to forcibly evict those trying to find a place to "organize their lives with the support of the small community" they have created in the Free Trade Zone. Given the previous evictions of Joan Miró Park, the Citadel either the SagreraArméstar maintains that today in the city "there is nowhere to spend the night without the risk of being woken up by a police operation." Ayoub says that on Thursday morning they will resist "trusting in Allah."