CSOA Hamsa a squatted space in Barcelona was evicted by armed police during the early hours of this morning. Inside were a number of activists who have been resisting impending eviction for almost 100 days.
CSOA Hamsa, is well known to visitors to BCN as a popular gig venue and was counted as one of the main occupied spaces of the city for many years.
Since the eviction at 03h30, activists have occupied "la Pedrera" one of the key tourist sites of Barcelona, and the work of the Catalan architect Gaudí.
At the time of writing there are several protesters suspended on ropes within this tourist site, one the most popular on the Barcelona "come and see and buy" menu.
The average cost of housing has risen sharply in Barcelona in the last years,
the occupied and free spaces for which the city was once reknowned have systematically been closed and the result has led to fragementisation of social movements as their traditional meeting places are removed. This is at stark contrast to the avowed interest in social and cultural diversity as promoted by Barcelona's Council which this year has poured unprofitable millions into the Forum of Cultures 2004 project, which needless to say has further fueled property speculation.
There are reports that the ERC (left republican Catalan party) one of the member parties of the Tripartite coalition that govern both Barcelona through it's council and Catalonia through it's Generalitat have reiterated their support of the squatters of the CSOA Hamsa. This is because the youth wing of that party "els maulets" is closely associated with both the neighbourhood and the very good graffiti around CSOA Hamsa.
There is presently a call for support and solidarity not only of the protesters in the "Pedrera" building of Gaudi on Passeig de Gracia (uptown BCN) but also of the CSOA Hamsa assembly.
So if you know someone in BCN, let them know- water and food are needed at the Pedrera.
THere will be concentrations throughout the day-
04/08 11 h: metro Jaume I (L4-yellow)
04/08 19 h: Plaça de Sants (L1 green - L5 blue)
In addition Radio Bronka is offering live feed and updates on the CSOA Hamsa story and attempts are being made to extend the listenership to internauts-
http://www.sindominio.net/rbronka/
http://80.37.224.84:8000/radio.ogg
and later in the week:
07/08 20h: Plaça de Sants (L1 green - L5 blue)
see also-
http://www.csoa-hamsa.tk/
http://www.maulets.org/
Since the eviction at 03h30, activists have occupied "la Pedrera" one of the key tourist sites of Barcelona, and the work of the Catalan architect Gaudí.
At the time of writing there are several protesters suspended on ropes within this tourist site, one the most popular on the Barcelona "come and see and buy" menu.
The average cost of housing has risen sharply in Barcelona in the last years,
the occupied and free spaces for which the city was once reknowned have systematically been closed and the result has led to fragementisation of social movements as their traditional meeting places are removed. This is at stark contrast to the avowed interest in social and cultural diversity as promoted by Barcelona's Council which this year has poured unprofitable millions into the Forum of Cultures 2004 project, which needless to say has further fueled property speculation.
There are reports that the ERC (left republican Catalan party) one of the member parties of the Tripartite coalition that govern both Barcelona through it's council and Catalonia through it's Generalitat have reiterated their support of the squatters of the CSOA Hamsa. This is because the youth wing of that party "els maulets" is closely associated with both the neighbourhood and the very good graffiti around CSOA Hamsa.
There is presently a call for support and solidarity not only of the protesters in the "Pedrera" building of Gaudi on Passeig de Gracia (uptown BCN) but also of the CSOA Hamsa assembly.
So if you know someone in BCN, let them know- water and food are needed at the Pedrera.
THere will be concentrations throughout the day-
04/08 11 h: metro Jaume I (L4-yellow)
04/08 19 h: Plaça de Sants (L1 green - L5 blue)
In addition Radio Bronka is offering live feed and updates on the CSOA Hamsa story and attempts are being made to extend the listenership to internauts-
http://www.sindominio.net/rbronka/ http://80.37.224.84:8000/radio.ogg and later in the week:
07/08 20h: Plaça de Sants (L1 green - L5 blue)
see also-
http://www.csoa-hamsa.tk/ http://www.maulets.org/
