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Some notes on the eviction of Can Vies
and what followed
Barcelona - Beginning of July 2014

On Monday 26th of May 2014, police forces evicted
the CSOA Can Vies [« Self managed Occupied Social
Centre »] located in the Jocs Florals Street, 40-42 in
the Barcelonese neighbourhood of Sants. The space
was functioning since 17 years and was a point of encounter and development of activities for various collectives and initiatives. Can Vies was always linked
to the Catalan independentism, and more specifically
to its current that is not integrated in political parties. The neighbourhood of Sants in general saw the
paradox of an “anarchism” that is tolerant towards, in
some cases even very close to the patriotic rancidity,
a phenomenon which these last years also emerged
in other geographical areas. It is something against
which we have to speak out clear and loud, before it
will be too late.
To contextualize a bit the eviction, we have to say that
this was something that was already announced for
some time. The company Transports Metropolitans
de Barcelona (TBM) is the owner and was since some
time looking on how to evict the occupation. Nonetheless the different juridical processes this house has
faced, yet another urban development plan served as
an excuse to destroy this space. It was announced in
the months before the eviction and various acts of support were realised.
During the eviction, people immediately came together to express their anger. During the whole
morning and afternoon, the Sants Street was blocked
(an important commercial vein in Barcelona) and at
8 ‘o clock in the evening, a demonstration kicked off.
The neighbourhood was totally surrounded by the
police who was controlling the access to the Station
of Sants. There took place some scaffolds with the

police, which reacted with usual abuses of authority.
After several charges, people dispersed and a van of
the Autonomous Catalan Television (TV3) was attacked. The police then military occupied the neighbourhood and attacked with their vans the premises
of a leftist newspaper (La Directa) and a cooperative
shop managed by people linked to the social movements in the neighbourhood.
On Tuesday, another demonstration in the afternoon
ended with the destruction of city property and the
burning of the bulldozer which partly destroyed Can
Vies. A sound gathering was called against the manager of the district of Sants, Jordi Martí, who was
obliged to change his agenda, which was repeated the
next day. That night, the riots continued and spread to
other neighbourhoods and cities of Catalonia.
On Wednesday the 28th, various gatherings were
called in different parts of the city, which would then
converge in Sants at 8:30 in the evening. Many people
joined in and marched to the district house of Sants,
protected by the cops. There, new riots erupted. Banks
ware attacked, barricades were erected and the police
was attacked. During several hours, there were police
charges, tear gas and rubber bullets under the watchful eye of a police helicopter flying over the area with
a strong light directed on the streets and the houses.
The next days, the riots continued and targeted above
all the offices of the ruling political party CIU. In several parts of the city and other parts of Catalan geography, vandalism acts, barricades and attacks against
banks took place. On that point, more than 70 people
were arrested; one of them was put in jail with as only
justification the created “social alarm”, the alarm media, politicians and police generate. Now, the prisoner

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