Spain: Gaztexte eviction leads to clashes and mass arrests
01 August 2004
On 17 August 2004, police forcefully evicted a gaztexte (squatted cultural youth centre) in Pamplona (Navarre), in a building that had been occupied by squatters since 1994, after it had remained closed since 1978. The squatters turned it into an establishment with a bar, which hosted educational courses, political meetings and conferences, film viewings and concerts. The eviction marked the start of a week of protests, which saw widespread disturbances, the burning of rubbish containers, the launching of molotov cocktails, police charges and the firing of rubber bullets.
A demonstration attended by over 10,000 people was held on 21 August to support the occupants, amid accusations that the town council was trying to establish a "police state". Two other buildings were occupied by protestors in the days that followed the eviction, one of them a de-consecrated church and the other an abandoned industrial warehouse, although they too were eventually evicted by police. The assembly of the
gaztexte thanked the neighbours for their support, as well as claiming that the prolonged disturbances had resulted in a total of 115 arrests, 15 injuries and 89 complaints about the excessive use of force by police. The police replied by arguing that 82 rubbish containers were set on fire, 30 molotov cocktails were thrown, and the local council argued that the disturbances bore the hallmarks of the "kale borroka" (urban vandalism with political motives in the Basque Country, which has been typified as terrorism). The arrested protestors may be charged with offences including usurping property, obstructing police officers in the course of their duty, and the carrying out of activities against public authorities. Reports also indicated that police fired rubber bullets at cars whose drivers had honked their horns in support of the occupants.
In early August mayor Yolanda Barcina, of
Unión Popular de Navarra (UPN, the Popular Party's Navarre branch), demanded that they vacate the building. In the early morning of 17 August, members of the national, regional and municipal police forces began the forceful eviction of the premises, which resulted in 37 arrests and in minor injuries to two occupants and a police officer. Demolition of the building began immediately, and the mayor justified the operation by stressing that it was "illegally occupied" and in poor condition, as well as claiming that uncontrolled "lucrative" activities were carried out on the premises (such as the sale of food without necessary health and safety controls).
The town council bought the building from the company that owned it on 21 June 2004, with plans to build a sports complex in its place. Nonetheless, it appears that the plans for the sports complex have now been abandoned. The council intends to use the space temporarily as a parking lot, and heated discussions in the local council have thrown up evidence that the demolition of the building was an action which had not been duly authorised nor examined by the council's town planning department. Four nationalist and left-wing parties in the town council (
Izquierda Unida, Eusko Alkartasuna, Aralar, and
Batzarre) opposed the eviction, as well as criticising the "disproportionate" police action.
The mayor's arguments in response to the accusations revealed the political motives behind the eviction, as she linked the youth centre to activities organised by the proscribed Basque Batasuna party, and to disturbances that took place during the feast of the city's patron saint,
San Fermín, and to the existence of a "hard core" of "professional" squatters in the region.
El Pais, 3, 4, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28.8.04.