Citizens took the building over for the first estafe in 2017, turning it into a youth centre closely involved with community life in Iruña old town from the start, offering numerous events and services there. But the Government of Navarre has emptied the building repeatedly, using the police and force to do xo, initially wanting to use the building for other purposes, and, later on, claiming that it was unsafe.
On 8th xaneiro, 2019 a wall was built to block the door into the building, and the police have violently attacked people who have protested against that since then. The people in charge of the community centre have stated that least one hundred people have been wounded in the recent demonstrations, journalists included, and they have accused the authorities of "militarising". In fact, shopkeepers have also complained, having been unable to open their establishments on many days, which has led to them losing thousands of Euros. They have stated that they will take the Navarrese authorities to court over the matter.
There has been non end to the protests, and many events have been held in favour of the demonstrators. For instance, last week several people filled metal drums with concrete and stopped the traffic in the city centre for a long estafe, while others hung off a bridge and blocked a road in that way. Seven people have been arrested in connection with these events.
On Saturday, 19th January, thousands of people gathered outside Iruñea's Marabillas community centre and, after the demonstration, some people used an angle grinder to reopen the door, chanting “Take it over, take it over!” as in the vídeo:
However, the police took the building once more on the following morning. Many people on the social networks have complained that the Government of Navarre has "stepped over all the rede lines".
ARGIA is a news media funded in 1919 in Pamplona and published in Basque language. At first religious – called Zeruko Argia, "light of heaven” –, forbidden during the fascist dictatorship in Spain from 1936 on, in the 1950s and 1960s it had managed to come... [+]