5 arrested and 19 police injured at Antiga Massana eviction protest

Five people were arrested and 19 Mossos d'Esquadra agents were slightly injured in protests following a police operation to evict the occupied Antiga Massana building in central Barcelona, ​​according to a police source.

Those involved in occupying the building claim that around 50 people were injured in the disturbances on Tuesday morning, with "multiple people bruised, head injuries and various fractures."

Four men and a woman were arrested for assaulting police, disobedience and public disorder, a police source said.

According to city council sources cited by the Catalan News Agency (ACN), officers found the old Massana school building empty during the joint operation carried out by the Guàrdia Urbana and Mossos d'Esquadra police.

The eviction was conducted with court authorization, the same sources confirmed.

However, according to Antiga Massana spokesperson Ariadna Garcia, "the City Council and the judiciary have acted in collusion to avoid the [ongoing] appeals and the established judicial channels."

Garcia also said that the operation was carried out at 6 am "to avoid confrontation and because they cannot look into the eyes of the people they are constantly humiliating and looting.

During the operation, about one hundred protesters gathered outside the police cordon, leading to moments of tension as officers used batons to push the protesters back.

The municipal government, which owns the property, had attempted to clear the building last October but was unsuccessful due to the "peaceful resistance" of the occupants at the time.

Subsequently, the local government sought and obtained a court order to proceed with the eviction.

Jéssica Albiach, leader of the left-wing Comuns, criticized the eviction: "They are selling our city. Today it is the Antiga Massa, but on Friday it will be Casa Orsola. They are driving us out of our neighborhoods," she said in an interview with SER radio. 

Albiach accused mayor Jaume Collboni of "looking for more conflict instead of reaching an agreement with the neighborhood associations to allow them to use the building."

What is the occupied Antiga Massana?

The Antiga Massana is a self-declared ‘Espai sota control popular’ – a space under community control.

Abandoned for three years, the building was taken over by activists in 2020 and put to social use. 

The space offers residents of the Raval a community gym with boxing classes, free Catalan and Spanish classes to help immigrants integrate better, a school for underprivileged children, and a space for artistic and creative expression. 

The space also serves as a place where housing activists can meet and organize, and the activities carried out there are done in an anti-racist and LGBTQI-friendly environment.

Evening protest

Groups that support the occupation of Antiga Massa called for a demonstration on Tuesday evening at 7.30 pm under the slogan 'Against the dictatorship of businesspeople and politicians'. 

Why does the Barcelona council want to evict the Antiga Massana?

Barcelona City Council wants to evict the activists and recover the space for their own use. Albert Batlle, the city councilor for the Ciutat Vella old town district, told ACN in an interview that its current use is “completely illegal,” and that there was “no justification for it.” 

Batlle said that the council “will carry out social policies if it suits, but only done in accordance with and under the direction of the administration.”

The activists don’t trust that the council will put the space to true community work, and are skeptical about the administration’s model for the city in general, which they believe is too strongly based on tourism.

After the eviction, Batlle defended the move to "recover" the property and said it was "fully robust" from a legal point of view. The council will not allow "more occupations," he added.