The eviction of an imam in Salt sparks anger in the migrant community over homelessness.

LeapThe eviction of an imam and his family has inflamed the migrant community of Salt, which has long denounced housing racism and difficulties in accessing housing. The protests began Monday night spontaneously, without any prior communication or any organizing entity, and continued Tuesday night, in a second day of altercations and clashes that ended with at least six arrests.

On the second, more heated night, around 100 people, mostly of migrant origin, young and hooded, lit bonfires in the middle of the streets of downtown Salt, around the town hall, and threw stones at the riot police line between 8:00 and 12:00. The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) have deployed public order reinforcements and activated ARRO units to contain the unrest. Police reinforcements remain active to prevent further incidents. The City Council has also met with the other imams in the town to act as intermediaries and help calm the situation.

Eviction and attempted occupation of the same apartment

The victim is Imam Papa Diawara, of the mosque on Rafel Masó Street, frequented by Gambians and Senegalese, and is 70 years old. His daughter, Henda Diawara, 26, born in Salt, explains to ARA how the sequence of events unfolded: "We had been in this apartment for 20 years, paying the mortgage, but the bank disappeared, so we asked to convert it to social housing, but we were not granted the option."

The eviction occurred without incident, and the family of Senegalese origin, with six children in their care, four of them minors, was left homeless, with the only option of staying in an emergency hotel for three nights paid for by the City Council. After these three nights of temporary housing, the family turned to Social Services, who were unable to assist them, and on Monday afternoon, they decided to return to the apartment from which they had been evicted, on Passeig Països Catalans. They broke down the door and tried to occupy it. The alarm immediately went off, and security forces rushed to the apartment to evict them immediately, following the anti-squatting protocol. "The police pushed my father, who is elderly, hit his head, and ended up in the hospital, just like me, from a blow to the head," continues Henda Diawara.

Following this second eviction, protests began on Monday night in front of the Mossos d'Esquadra police station in the municipality, where eggs and stones were thrown. On Tuesday morning and afternoon, the peaceful demonstrations continued again, this time with the support of the Diawra family and the Salt Housing Union. Later on Tuesday night, without the protection of the union and the family, the youth continued in the streets, causing unorganized disturbances.

The imam, however, urges young people not to repeat the violent protests: "We understand the discomfort; being targeted is the worst thing that can happen to you, and we know many people who have been evicted, but violence is not the solution," argues Henda. The Diawara family, for the moment, lives among friends' apartments while waiting for the City Council to offer them housing.

What's behind the protests

Despite being an imam, the protest has nothing to do with religious motives or Islamic radicalization, but rather with the social unrest of the migrant community, especially due to the lack of housing, continuous evictions, and the obstacles posed by real estate agencies when renting apartments to them, according to the Housing Union. "Since September, the situation has worsened; every week there are evictions in Salt of families with children, all of whom attend public schools, and we've been warning the authorities for some time that the situation would soon be worse, as seen with this social uprising," says Judit Font, a member of the union who has closely followed the case. She adds: "The people who are occupying homes are doing so by force, because they need a roof over their heads and have no way of accessing them within the normal market." The spokesperson for the Tenants' Union of Catalonia expressed similar sentiments during a media conference in Sitges: "The strange thing is that there isn't a daily and continuous social uprising."

In the case of Salt, tenants complain that most apartments are owned by vulture funds and large landowners, that 60% of the population cannot afford rent over 700 euros, and that the social rental market is overwhelmed. The union does not plan to call any mobilizations for this Wednesday, but they do plan peaceful protests in the coming days to denounce the situation.

Karim Sabni, director of the Salta-based job placement cooperative Idària, also highlights the latent discontent of a large part of Salta society: "Young people are angry because they experience mistreatment, racism, and violence at all levels, from housing to the workplace and indiscriminate street searches." And, regarding the fact that the trigger was the eviction of an imam, he adds: "The imams have nothing to do with it, it's a coincidence; if it had been a priest, the headlines wouldn't be like this. The authorities should be talking to the young people of Salta and people of different origins, so they can explain their discontent."

Salt City Council, for its part, has strongly condemned the violent events of these two days while regretting the wave of evictions that have occurred in recent months in apartments owned by vulture sources, since these properties do not allow the council to negotiate or expand the offer of social rentals.