The police evict the housing encampment at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid

BarcelonaUp to 400 officers from the National Police and Madrid's municipal police executed the eviction of the housing encampment at Puerta del Sol early this morning. After the campers began leaving the site in recent days to prepare for the general strike on November 11, riot police proceeded to clear the space by order of the Spanish government delegation in Madrid. A total of 334 people were evicted and two arrests were made for "disobedience and resistance," according to the delegation.

The organizers of the mobilization have denounced a "violent intervention" by the police. According to a post on Instagram, they were beaten and pepper spray was used against them. "There are several wounded comrades," they assert. "We are working to verify the status and integrity of all the comrades," they add in the publication, posted around five in the morning and in which they point directly to the delegation "led by the PSOE."

The delegation, for its part, defended the eviction in a statement, in which it ensures that it is a measure adopted after a process of mediation and "gradual action" and considering that the protest had lost its "common protest purpose." It also claims that "the eviction took place without disturbances or episodes of violence," contrary to what the campers have denounced.

The Spanish government argues that, after more than a month of protests, a "change in the circumstances and nature of the encampment" has been observed and maintains that the right to assembly and demonstration is not "unlimited." It points out, in this sense, that the main participating organizations had withdrawn and that a large part of the people sleeping in the square were "homeless people" and "vulnerable groups." It also points to the "existence of various allegedly criminal acts" inside or in the surroundings of the encampment.

The delegation concludes, however, that the eviction was not a sudden action, but the result of a mediation process that began a week ago. According to the document, on October 26th, a letter was sent to the campers warning that a "reasonable" amount of time had already passed for them to present their demands and proposing the end of the protest. According to the official version, this letter received no response and, on October 29th, a second requirement was sent demanding the "dismantling of the encampment as soon as possible." On October 30th, the encampment's interlocutors communicated the dissolution of the organizing committees, but a "residual" group refused to leave the square, according to the delegation, which thus justifies the eviction this Tuesday.