Not even 24 hours had passed since Endesa technicians cut off the electricity supply to four occupied apartments in a development in Calonge i Sant Antoni, when they were once again hooked up to the electricity illegally. It wasn't the first time. Among the residents of this block with a swimming pool, located a three-minute walk from the beach, there is a certain feeling of déjà vu, insecurity, fear and helplessness after two years of living with problematic squatters. “The situation has become unsustainable,” they say.
They denounce threats, coercion, defiant looks, violent and provocative attitudes, the occupation of common areas such as the parking lot, the vandalization of anti-squatter doors with which the Society for the Management of Assets from Bank Restructuring (Sareb), owner of twenty of the 35 apartments in the block, has placed to prevent new usurpations... They also warn that they have put silicone in the electronic peephole of a neighbor's door and that they have threatened to burn the building in front of police presence. They also criticize the improper use of the swimming pool, the noises in the wee hours of the morning, the use of the meter cupboards as if they were storage rooms, the theft of copper pieces from the roof... "We're fed up! We can't take it anymore!"
A nightmare that began in 2024, when the first occupations were completed. Three years earlier, in 2021, Sareb acquired the first homes. Initially, it did not install any security or surveillance system, which paved the way for the occupation. Now there are armored doors and security personnel who pass through the properties daily, morning and afternoon. But the neighbors ask Sareb for permanent surveillance 24 hours a day.
One of the ringleaders of this plot is an old acquaintance of the police with several records for similar events in other municipalities such as La Bisbal d'Empordà and Palafrugell and who, according to municipal sources, "is dedicated to selling keys with free water and electricity."
The situation affects the neighbors, mainly due to the violent attitude of some of the squatters. “I am afraid, I live with a permanent feeling of anxiety and I do not leave the house without pepper spray.” Behind these words is Manuel, the fictitious name of a neighbor who declines to appear under his real name. Fear reprisals. The man acquired one of the apartments in 2009 as a second residence, but for some time now, the stays are increasingly shorter and more spaced out for fear of his integrity. “Now I am really considering leaving here,” he says.
Manuel has already received several threats and has a final ruling from the Court of Instance of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, which sentences one of those squatters to pay him a fine of 360 euros for a minor crime of coercion. “You've been looking for problems for a while and you're going to have them,” the accused said while following him from his car around the house about half a year ago. It was not the first time that he had addressed him in an intimidating manner. As a result, she has modified some of her routines so as not to find him in common areas of the building, parking lot or other spaces. Manuel is awaiting another appealed sentence in the Court of Girona and will soon enter the courts after denouncing a squatter for electricity fraud. Cases involving Moroccan citizens.
Manuel is one of the visible leaders of the community who is doing the most to prevent new occupations. “If it weren't for us, the neighbors, half a block would already be occupied.” He is not the only neighbor who lives in fear. A woman was attacked while walking down the street and others have decided to rent out their properties or sell them due to the “psychological toll” of the day-to-day life of this situation. “It is unsustainable, we live with a criminal organization on the block,” laments another witness.
The neighbors ask Sareb, as the owner of the four most problematic properties, to expedite the legal actions necessary for the eviction of the occupants. Sources from the so-called bad bank explain that in four of the occupied homes, whose tenants have not proven that they are vulnerable, releases are requested. Two other homes, in which vulnerability has been proven but which have a conflictive history accredited by police forces, will also be evicted.
According to municipal data, in Calonge i Sant Antoni there are about 400 properties owned by banks and about forty occupied apartments. “The phenomenon is mainly concentrated in properties in which the owners are not individuals or property companies,” explains the councilor for Security, Alberto Mas. Cases that tend to last forever.
