Lluís Miquel has run the Estación bar throughout his life. He is now retired and when this morning he passed by the old halt, already fenced and closed to the public, he saw a strange movement. A few meters away there were riot police vans from the Mossos and Acciona workers entering the station. “I called Andrea immediately to let her know that something was happening here.” Andrea Messeguer is the tenant of the station. An activist and engineer who decided to occupy the building to save it from demolition, foreseen in the plan to bury the train tracks, one of the historical demands of Sant Feliu de Llobregat and which has delayed the progress of the works for six months.
Andrea appeared immediately. “She wasn’t there because she was working,” she justified, but in reality Andrea doesn’t usually sleep there. Theirs is a protest, a neighborhood movement of heritage lovers who fight so that the station is not demolished, it is conserved and the municipality preserves and respects its historical character. When Andrea asked for explanations as to why she could not enter “her house,” the Mossos served her with a notice from the court. “It is agreed to authorize ADIF to proceed to enter the Sant Feliu station to evict Andrea Messeguer,” underlines the document issued by the administrative litigation court number 2 of Barcelona.
The occupation of the engineer has delayed the works for more than six months and has compromised the development of the works of the railway integration project in the city,” ADIF lamented in a statement while highlighting that the protest has “affected the passengers on line R4, due to the capacity limitations derived from the works and will increase economic costs due to delays.
The eviction puts an end to a story of vindication that began twelve years ago and that reached its maximum expression during the Sant Joan festival. That night while everyone was dancing around the bonfires, Andrea decided to overcome the cordoned off area of ??the station works, walk along the deserted platform, and enter the old station that had begun to be dismantled. There was no longer the window, nor the ticket machines, nor was there any trace of Lluís Miquel’s bar or the tiles that were attached to the walls. Guided by his desire to preserve the heritage, Andrea decided to occupy the station and began to call it “my house” with the purpose of saving it from demolition, paralyzing the works, and for the façade of the building to be cataloged and integrated into the new urban plan. that will be born as a result of the burying of the tracks. The young man tried to register at the station but the city council forbade him. However, since then, both he and the members of ‘Salvem l’Estació’ have held several events inside the building, including a Christmas dinner.
During the morning, the workers removed all the items accumulated during this half-year of protest, including a Christmas tree and the garlands with which they decorated the station during the holidays. “I have occupied it, this is my home. I have the right to enter,” Andrea insisted in front of the police. The activist has tried everything. At her side, another neighbor, Maria Rosa, argued that she also lived in the building, that she was identified as the occupant once the Mossos came and that therefore it appears that she also resides there and there is no court order against her and He has the right to enter… About twenty members of the association have appeared at the doors to protest against the eviction but all their efforts have been of little use. They have been fighting for twelve years, which so far has been fruitless, and they see the moment approaching for the demolition that will put an end to one of the three oldest stations in Spain, along with Cornellà and Sant Andreu Comtal. “When we are not there, the building will go down,” they lament. Next week, Andrea faces a criminal trial for a minor crime of usurpation for which they demand a fine of 750 euros. However, he does not give up. “When the police leave, we will try again. “We have to save the station.”
ADIF recalls that the new urban project that will be born after the burying of the train tracks “was agreed upon with the Sant Feliu de Llobregat City Council and endorsed through a citizen consultation, in which three quarters of the participants voted in favor of the demolition of the old building.
