The ‘Expropriated Bank’, a self-managed occupied social center in the beautiful Gracia barrio of Barcelona, has finally fallen. Symbol of resistance to repression and austerity , colleagues called for the occupation of 1000 more banks.
Seeding Mutual Aid against Capitalism
The eviction was not an easy task, it took police more than eight hours, using metal cutters, etc., to extricate the last heroes. The police struggled all day to get them out of a barrel of cement, itself inside a safe, inside the basement with metal barricades.
Meanwhile, reinforcements gathered and marched from several pre-organized points in the city until by 9.00 pm at least 2000 filled the narrow streets, but the entire front of the Bank had been welded shut with iron plates.
An army of very aggressive riot police, masked and without ID plates and with a helicopter, moved into the crowds of young people. Only for good luck no one was killed.
The Catalan police, who used a lot of ‘foam’ ammunition. Among the 15 injured, four have been hit in the head by these dangerous projectiles viscoelastic projectiles.. by Gorka Leiza ..Directa
“When the truth is told, governments do not want to hear”
The demonstration against the eviction in the Plaza de la Revolution Square neighborhood of Gracia began with1,800 people attracted to the area and began marching down the street Torrijos St to the Plaza del Diamante passing through the Plaza de la Virreina. Slogans like “With or without hoods, we defend the bank”, “I would be embarrassed to be in the police” or “Today, like yesterday, struggle is the only way” were heard among the protesters, with more that criticized the media like “journalists leave the neighborhood!” were shouted from the megaphone. At the crossroads of Torrent de l’Olla we heard the first breaking glass of a bank.
by Victor Serri… When the head of the protest reached the Plaza del Sol, the end of the great march was still entering Torrent de l’Olla St. The demonstration stopped to recall two emblematic popular occupations tme Three Lilies occupied social center of the neighborhood, and Ros de Olano at the Office of Housing Gracia, in the Plaza del Sol.
From there, weclimbed back to the Revolution Square to reach the remains of the Expropriated Bank. In the streets you could hear the banging of pots and pans by neighbors from the balconies, in solidarity with the protest.
Upon reaching the evicted Bank protesters began to remove the iron plates of the main entrance using a powered radial arm saw.
This was the moment when the the Autonomous Police started charging madly against protesters who resisted at first the attack of a riot van that led the charge, covering it with white paint.
Behind the van the Riot Police came charging, also supported by the LRAD device, the famous Sound Cannon. The first charges have caused various injuries, like a child with a bad head wound. Moments later, protesters overturned a car and set fire to an electric city cleaning Van in order to hinder the attacks of the police.
This is the moment when it all kicked off with furious clashes spreading around Gràcia barrio. At Travessera /Torrent de l’Olla, a van of Catalan riot police tried to break through the containers in the street but got caught and dragged up the street the amidst the throwing of missiles by protesters.
In various parts of the district, foam projectiles ” Mossos were fired at protesters, several of whom were injured. A group took advantage of the chaos to enter the Bonpreu supermarket in St Verdi, which has been embroiled for months in a labor dispute, as reported by activists of the district, causing damage. From the balconies in the narrow streets, neighbours were shouting support to the demonstrators.
At 2300 hours, the riots were concentrated in the top end of Gracia. In the Travessera de Dalt, 300 people barricaded the street with fences andcontainers. Police used again The cops fired more projectiles of a type more harmful than allowed. In total, 15 people have been injured up to the moment with wounds of varying degrees. Four of these by viscoelastic shells wounds in the head.
source: The Free https://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/seeding-mutual-aid/
