Two shantytown settlements in La Sagrera are evicted
The operation began shortly before eight in the morning on land owned by Adif.
BarcelonaA large contingent of the Barcelona City Police, with the collaboration of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police), began the eviction of two shantytown settlements located on land owned by Adif (the Spanish railway infrastructure manager) in the Sagrera area of the Sant Andreu district shortly before 8:00 a.m. The shacks, situated on a plot of land near the Ponte del Treball Digne (Dignified Work Bridge), house between 200 and 300 people, according to local sources. The operation began in a coordinated manner, with the presence of municipal social services and cleaning crews. Professionals from the Barcelona Center for Social Emergencies and Urgent Care (CUESB) and city cleaning services were deployed to the site to assist those affected and manage the situation on the ground.
The City Council has indicated that the action is in response to a report from the Barcelona Fire Department concluding that there is a "very serious and imminent" risk to the people living there, which prompted the decision to intervene "as a matter of urgency." As the eviction progresses, carts full of suitcases, bicycles, and other personal belongings can be seen around the Treball Digne bridge, loaded to the brim. Their owners remain nearby, sitting on the bridge itself or at either end, gathered on benches waiting to find out where to go. Around 11:30 a.m., there is almost no activity at the evicted settlements, where police officers and CUESB (Barcelona Emergency Operations Center) personnel are still working. Meanwhile, residents of the neighborhood begin to walk across the bridge, stopping to observe the scene.
Some of the people who lived in the settlement and who are currently at the front explain that they were unaware of the eviction until they were notified this morning. Along these lines, Shei, a member of the Sagrera, Navas and Congreso Union and a member of the Catalan Housing Union Confederation (COSHAC), denounces that "they were only notified when they were already being evicted."
According to her, this notification "cites a fire that occurred this month, which the people in the settlement were unaware of." At the same time, this group also criticizes the actions of Jaume Collboni's municipal government, which it accuses of using evictions to "displace poor people from the urban landscape," and links these policies to gentrification processes, arguing that these are not security measures but rather "eugenic policies."