Mass protest to denounce the eviction order of the old Massana in Barcelona. According to the Urban Guard, a thousand people (12,000, according to the organizers) have demonstrated in the center of the Catalan capital under the cry “The old Massana stays in the neighborhood.”
The building, located in the Raval neighborhood, has been occupied since 2020 by social groups that carry out community activities.
Head of the demonstration against the eviction of the old Massana at the height of the Rambla.
On October 14, the council notified the eviction order, which was to be carried out this past Thursday, but a hundred people concentrated in the building prevented them from being evicted, at least for the moment. Given this fact, the City Council has requested a court order and is waiting to receive it to execute the eviction. The reaction of the activists occupying the property was to take to the streets and warn that “they will fight to the last consequences.”
The march began in Plaza Gardunya and traveled through emblematic streets of the city such as Las Ramblas, Plaza Catalunya and Via Laietana.
At the front of the march, the protesters carried a banner with the motto: “Let’s defend the Antiga Massana. Barcelona belongs to the working class.”
During the protest, slogans were heard against the PSC and the city’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, and paint and eggs were thrown against the façade of the town hall.
Head of the demonstration against the eviction of the old Massana.
The event ended in the same square where it had begun with a concert for the protesters, in a festive and protesting atmosphere.
The march as it passes through Via Layetana
In the final speech, the organizing associations, including Antiga Massana, criticized the City Council. The spokesperson for Antigua Massana, Elena Martín, recalled minutes before starting the demonstration that the group had worked “for two years” with the previous government team for the transfer of the space, a transfer that had been “promised” and which had already been approved, as he said, by organizations such as the district plenary session, Citizen Heritage and by the government of Ada Colau.
Young people around the Antiga Massana.
The mobilization had a peaceful tone at all times and among the participants were, in addition to activists, personal neighbors, students or families with children.
This Friday, the Sindicatura de Greuges de Barcelona asked the Ciutat Vella District of Barcelona City Council to dialogue with the Antigua Massana Association “for the benefit of the public interest.”
Source: www.lavanguardia.com
