"I have papers and I speak the language, I just need a place to live": evicted from a warehouse in Badalona
About forty homeless people, who survive by collecting scrap metal, are now looking for a place to relocate.
BadalonaAnother eviction in Badalona with a large police presence. A dozen Mossos d'Esquadra units arrived this morning on Carrer de Antoni Borí to clear a warehouse where around 40 homeless people have been living for years. According to SOS Racisme, the majority are sub-Saharan Africans who live off scrap metal they collect on the street. Despite the heavy police mobilization, the eviction proceeded without incident, and the 20 or so residents were evicted. The National Police arrested one person, and the Mossos d'Esquadra charged three others with a crime against public health, misappropriation of a stolen phone, and possession of a knife (a knife was confiscated). The occupied premises are owned by Banc Sabadell.
This isn't the first time the eviction of this building has been announced, but this was the final one. In fact, the electricity was cut off at the end of February, forcing many of those living in Antoni Bori to look for a new place to stay. Many of those who moved in search of warmth ended up going to The abandoned B-9 institute, where there has also been a threat of eviction for some timeThe vast majority of those evicted this Thursday are expected to end up taking the same path.
One who rules it out, however, is Sadio. He arrived in Catalonia from Senegal in 2014. He explains that during this time, he has slept on the streets, "everywhere." He has been occupied in Sant Roc, although he explains that it is temporary and that he will have to return to the streets. "Everything is full," he notes.
El Djamal also rules out going to B-9: "I've already been there and I don't want to go back." This young Algerian has been living in Catalonia for seven years, and had been living in the vacated warehouse for over five years. "They're tired of living," he says. Yanela, on the other hand, has been living in B-9 for a week now. "They're well organized there, everyone has their own space," she explains. She arrived here in 1992 from Cuba and has been living in sheds for twelve years. In fact, resided on Gorg's burned ship, just a few meters from where she was evicted this morning. "They won't offer us any solution," she says.
Although the eviction date was announced a month ago, this Thursday some of those remaining inside were still taking carts loaded with clothes and blankets. However, the evacuees explain that they've had time to empty the few belongings they had inside, such as mattresses and gas cylinders. Since their power was cut off at the end of February, they've placed even greater value on these items.
The interior of the ship will be thrown to the ground
The mayor of Badalona, Xavier García Albiol, explained in a video posted on social media that this Thursday the interior of the warehouse will be demolished so that "no one else will ever occupy it again." The Popular Party member boasted about this "historic strike" and accused the residents of generating "conflicts, insecurity, and crime."
Although police sources have explained that only one arrest was made during the operation, the Popular Party mayor asserted that there were more than one because some of the attendees "became violent." They described the police operation as "disproportionate."