The PP candidate for mayor of Badalona (Barcelonès Nord), Xavier García Albiol, has created a manual so that residents know how to act in the event of illegal occupation of a property. It is a diptych that “does not pretend to be a guide for residents to take the law on their own,” according to Albiol, due to the legal consequences that acting in the wrong way would entail.
The pamphlet gives details of what to do if the occupation is detected before or after 48 hours and how to prove that the property, warehouse or establishment has been fraudulently entered, among others. According to Albiol, the Catalan anti-occupation law does not provide enough tools to the residents or the consistories, and he has described it as a “smoke screen” and of not being effective.
Albiol has chosen the neighborhood of Nova Lloreda, an area where it claims that occupations have been registered recently. However, the neighborhoods where there are more, according to the popular candidate, are Sant Roc, El Remei, La Salut, the upper part of Llefià, Sant Crist or even the center.
The diptych consists of two parts, one dedicated to how to act in the first 48 hours from the moment the raid occurs and another on what to do once that time has passed. Thus, in the first section, he recommends calling the emergency telephone numbers and informing the squatters “formally” that they must leave the place, making sure that this request is recorded in the police report.
In the same way, it is recommended to record all the steps, with witnesses from neighbors, security agents or alarm service personnel. In the event that the occupants have punctured the light, it indicates that the energy company must be contacted to cut off the fluid due to the risk of fire that it may entail.
After the first 48 hours, the training recommends following the same steps, but also that the owner report the situation in court. In the event that the occupants leave the property, it points out that the community of neighbors can agree not to let them use the common areas. In both cases, the contact of the municipal group is transferred to transfer the situation.
“The manual is not intended to become a guide for residents to take justice on their own, it is a manual so that they know the steps to follow and take them with complete security that they will not put themselves at risk from a criminal point of view or personnel”, explained Albiol. “Let no one take justice on their own, because it can have consequences, and in this country the neighbors are usually punished more than the occupiers,” he added. The document will be distributed in mailboxes and some shops, and can also be downloaded from the training website.
The popular mayor has assured that manuals like this one, the first to be produced by a political formation, are needed given the ineffectiveness of the Catalan anti-squatter law. “It is a toast to the sun, insufficient, a smoke screen, and it does not allow the action of the mayor, not the plenary session, until 35 days after the raid has taken place,” he added.
This happens, he says, because the procedure is processed by civil means, which can lead to a wait of up to a year. “This keeps the neighbors tied hand and foot, who are the ones who suffer from the problem,” he stressed.
In this sense, he has charged against the mayors who “sympathetically” view the occupations, targeting the mayoress of Barcelona, ??Ada Colau, and “some parties” of the Badalona government.