Samira’s story could not have had a crueler ending. On Thursday he was walking between Emili Vendrell square and Joaquín Costa street. Suddenly half a palm tree collapsed on her. And the Barcelona neighborhood of Raval is enraged. People ask for responsibilities, that this does not remain so.
Samira was a trans woman, and she was barely twenty years old. This Friday, at the scene of the tragedy, a few spontaneous tributes took place, the candles were raised on the remains of the recently felled palm tree.
Samira lived on the street, she used to sleep with her partner in the Joan Miró park, she had problems related to drugs and a torturous family past, lately she was very depressed…
And lately, for some time now, it was very close to the Raval neighborhood, the center of Dia, the alternative bookstore El Lokal, the agora for Juan Andrés Benítez entities, the places where they distribute food, the facilities of the Metzineres…
“She was rebellious, flirtatious, conceited, she liked to paint herself,” said several people around her in successive tributes. And she also had a lot of character, she didn’t shut up at all… and she also had the introverted and distrustful side of her. It is what the street has. She gives you a lot of sticks ”.
Metzineres is a women’s cooperative in a situation of extreme vulnerability. Many are victims of sexual exploitation, many are trying to rebuild their lives here.
And the cruel death of Samira is revealing the terrible events that these people go through. The Arrels Foundation wanted to point it out through a tweet. “With Samira there are now four homeless people who have died this summer in Barcelona. It’s a tragedy”.
