The Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested 13 people, including a minor, for "public disorder" in the disturbances generated after the demonstration in the streets of Barcelona to demand a general strike for housing. In addition, 30 officers were slightly injured.
Thousands of people took to the streets on Monday afternoon. Plaza Urquinaona has been the starting point of the demonstration called by groups such as the Sindicat de Llogateres (Union of Tenants), the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), the Confederació Sindical d'Habitatge de Catalunya (COSHAC) or the Sindicat d'Habitatge Socialista and which has been joined by, among others, the unions CCOO, UGT and CGT.
According to the Urban Police, around 20,000 people have gathered, while the organizers have raised the figure to 120,000. After the march was called off, a small group of people clashed with the Mossos d'Esquadra, who charged and arrested 30 people.
After the riots moved to Plaza Catalunya, where the activists ended up from the nearby Passeig de Gràcia-Gran Via intersection, "the violent actions remained active until midnight," the Mossos d'Esquadra told Europa Press.
The altercations have included 28 barricades and up to 22 fires that the Barcelona Firefighters have put out, escorted by "a police protection device to guarantee safe intervention at each point."
"The housing legislature has begun and an electoral calendar will not set the pace for us, but we have our calendar, which is to go towards the general strike in the fall," said the spokesperson for the Llogateres Union, Carme Arcarazo. A commitment to a 24-hour strike that the class unions have already assumed as their own.
The influx of protesters has exceeded expectations and has forced initial plans to change. The route had to go down Via Laietana, pass through Plaza Sant Jaume (in front of the headquarters of the Generalitat of Catalonia and Barcelona City Council) and conclude in Plaza Catalunya, the same place where the first activists camped on Tuesday night. However, the organizers have decided that the march will head to the Arc del Triomf, with wider roads, to run along Gran Via towards Passeig de Gràcia.
Upon reaching that point, there were moments of tension between the Mossos and some protesters who tried to break the police cordon to continue advancing towards the camp. With the march already called off, some of them have thrown objects at the agents and burned containers.
Following the announcement of early elections made this morning by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, Arcarazo considered it "a good idea" for the Permanent Deputation of the Congress of Deputies to vote again on the housing decrees repealed last Friday, although he warned that "they simply serve to stop the coup."
"They will stop evictions or freeze rental prices, but they do not structurally change the housing system, they do not address the reasons that have brought us here," said the spokesperson for the Catalan Tenants' Union.
Demonstration postponed
The organizers announced on Saturday that they were postponing to today the demonstration scheduled for that afternoon in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona) due to the recommendations of the Civil Protection service of the Generalitat, which raised the risk level to the maximum due to the heavy rains.
This concentration had been called after the case of Olga, a resident of this town, the second most populated in Catalonia with almost 300,000 inhabitants, who committed suicide at the beginning of September, a few months after being evicted from the apartment in which she lived.
All of last week was especially active in Barcelona in demands. Monday dawned with several cuts on entry roads to the city and closed with a protest rally in front of the Palace of Congresses of Catalonia, taking advantage of the presence of President Sánchez at the Vanguardia Awards ceremony.
On Tuesday, following the example of Puerta del Sol in Madrid and several Spanish capitals, dozens of people started camping in Plaza Catalunya, the same place that hosted the Barcelona protest of March 15, 2011.
The initiative was neither led nor supported during the first two days by the Sindicat de Llogateres or other housing unions. However, on Thursday, after the cacerolada in Sant Jaume at 8:00 p.m., they did go to Plaza Catalunya after having announced it a few hours before.
