The eviction of the squatted houses in La Bonanova, dubbed El Kubo and La Ruina, was more peaceful than expected. The Mossos d’Esquadra deployed 300 agents from all units to address a situation that was expected to be more complicated than it finally was, taking into account more distant precedents that still linger in the memory such as Can Vies, the Banc Expropiat or the Kasa de la Muntanya and the tension experienced in the recent demonstrations in front of the two buildings that served as ammunition during the municipal campaign. However, this case did not get the support of other calls. A hundred demonstrators showed up in front of the house in the early hours and just seven squatters tried to sabotage the intervention. Thus, in five hours, the Mossos d’Esquadra managed to expel the occupiers, repel all kinds of liquid and debris thrown and dodge all the traps they set up to make the eviction difficult. In the two farms, there were only six men and one woman, who were arrested and charged with the crimes of resistance, disobedience and assault on authority.
The eviction had been called months ago and everyone had been warned: the police, the occupants, the property and also the neighbors and traders in the area, who received the communication from the authorities that during yesterday’s day they could be affected some services such as electricity or water. Thus, early in the morning and although the temperatures were high for November, the terraces of the bars were collected as a precautionary measure. The operation was so quick that by midday they were back at full capacity.
The most important incidents took place early in the morning, around 5.30am. The squatters received the Mossos with throws of all kinds. They poured sacks of debris, smoke cans, steel balls and flares to make intervention difficult and even emptied a fire extinguisher towards where the police were and threw paint at them. To protect themselves, the Mossos used for the first time a home-made cage in which several policemen protected themselves from the throws. Thanks to this, they cushioned a couple of sacks that they dropped from the heights. A police officer was slightly injured during the operation.
Once the spaces were controlled and after the attacks stopped, the agents proceeded to evict them, although until the last moment three young people continued on the terrace of La Ruina, while another was hanging from the facade for hours exterior of El Kubo with a rope, which required the intervention of mountain cash from the Mossos and Firefighters with an articulated hydraulic ladder. None of them resisted.
Once the maneuvers were finished, they proceeded to inspect both buildings before returning them to the property, Sareb, who promised to strengthen surveillance in both houses to prevent them from being occupied again. Sareb undertook to shield the accesses and install private security guards to guard the estates. In a statement, he indicated that the urban plan of the Barcelona City Council envisages a large green area in the place where the old office building known as El Kubo is located, while La Ruina can be rehabilitated, although without growing in building meters. Since 2016, itinerant groups of squatters have been living on both farms, who had called a demonstration with the slogan “We resist eviction” at 5.30 a.m. on a plot of land on Carrer Farigola, next to the Vallcarca metro station. from where more than a hundred people traveled to La Bonanova.
“The operation was a success”, congratulated the chief commissioner of Barcelona, ??Montse Estruch, who assessed that no one had been injured, not even the occupying agents. The Mossos had designed a maximum device, with all units activated and waiting for any mishaps. The operation is still active pending the demonstration called for Saturday to protest against the eviction.
At mid-morning, the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena; the general director of the Police, Pere Ferrer, and the chief commissioner of the Mossos, Eduard Sallent, arrived in the area to congratulate the officers who participated in the device. The mayor of Barcelona, ??Jaume Collboni, was also watching the course of the operation throughout the morning, which he followed from the command center installed on Carrer BolÃvia. The mayor described as very positive the action of the Mossos, the Firemen and the Urban Guard to guarantee the safety of the public.
