- The eviction was carried out by the Municipal Police of Bilbao with a court order. Arrakala was publicly presented on April 17 as a space released from the Casco Viejo Housing Group AZET.
At 05:00 a.m. on Tuesday, the Municipal Police of Bilbao has evicted the Arrakala, located in the Old Town of Bilbao. According to AZET, local police officers have intervened with the help of the Ertzaintza and the fire brigade and have violently torn down the door, identifying, expelling and evicting people inside.
After the announcement that eviction was being carried out, several people have approached the Etxebarrieta Brothers Square to protest eviction.
Yesterday, Monday, the Bilbao munipals evicted the Arrakala
— Eztizen (@EztizenArtola) May 11, 2021
Gate by the fascists and proceeded to evict it. We have always been clear that the police do not take care of us, with examples like this we are even clearer. @juanmariaburto ata your dogs! @AzTaldea pic.twitter.com/dsfNo9dBAa
On April 17, AZET publicly presented the House of Neighbors of Arrakala, at the end of the demonstration that under the motto “Housing is not business” was held in Bilbao. The same space was occupied for the first time fifteen years ago, and since it was evicted it had been empty all these years. “Like so many other empty dwellings in the neighborhood, while hundreds of families have no house,” AZET said.
Once the Arrakala has been made public, police persecution has been a constant. According to the motto “Stop Police Harassment, Leave Arrakala in Peace”, the Municipal Police followed and identified people who have gone through space, shot them or recorded them on video and during the state of alarm have appeared at the Arrakala gate in hours outside the eviction order. The eviction of Tuesday’s early morning has been the last chapter of this ongoing persecution that has taken place this Tuesday.
Call for mobilisations
To denounce the facts, the mayor of Bilbao said: "No layoffs! Violence is yours! AZET called for a demonstration on Tuesday afternoon under the slogan "enough of illusion". The march will depart at 20:30 hours from the Etxebarrieta Brothers Square.
Week full of evictions
“During the week in which at least two evictions are to be carried out in Bilbao, the City of Bilbao has also evicted the house of those of us who fight for the rights of our neighbours and neighbours,” AZET said from social networks. The eviction of Arrakala is in addition to the eviction orders of this week that have two members of the housing group affected by the eviction. Leonor and his family have the eviction order in effect on Thursday, while Judith and his children have done so on Friday. In order to stop the two layoffs, AZET has called on the citizens to mobilize during those days: on Thursday at 09:00 in Basarrate and on Friday at 09:15 in Cortes Street.
On the other hand, Arrakala was among the alleged chopungoes of the company Desokupa, which a week ago reported that he was going to intervene in the Casco Viejo de Bilbao. After the events of Tuesday, this possibility is ruled out, but not the possibility of Desokupa re-intervening in the surroundings; on Monday there was a eviction in Basurto. Neighbours have been on the anti-fascist alert for several days: on Tuesday, a demonstration will be held at 20:00 on the Etxebarrieta Brothers Square and on Wednesday morning, an anti-fascist breakfast will be held in the same place between 07:30 and 11:30. In addition, a number of criteria have been published to deal with an attempt to evict the company Desokupa:
