Article

La Princesa

La Princesa is an old cinema situated in the centre of Barcelona. The Spanish state owned the cinema as an inheritance from the Sindicato Vertical (the Francoist official union). A former subsecretary of the Employment Office (Ministerio de Trabajo) sold the cinema, which now belongs to Carmen Companys, widow of the businessman Salvador Forcadell. With this paperwork, and convinced that this sale operation was illegal, some squatters arrived to the building and established their squat there. La Princesa was a forgotten place, ridden by rats, and dirt, and used by some bussiness people to speculate with the building's value. The squatters worked fast to clean the place, and in few weeks they had the neighbours' sympathy, and started transforming an abandoned empty space into a local centre where a number of cultural activities were going to take place. In fact, Jordi Llovet, the president of the residents association of Ciutat Vella, where La Princesa cinema is, said that he supported the suatters because it was the first time in twenty years that this abandoned space had been put to any use. It didn't make any difference. The new Cððdigo Penal (the equivalent of the Criminal Justice Bill) considers that squatting is illegal, even if you enter an abandoned building without breaking in, that is, without violent means. Tension was building up, and, on the 20 of October 1996, in a music concert organised in support of the squatters, the coppers charged against the people, beating up squatters and members of the general public attending the festival.

Back to the bad old times.

Finally, on the early hours of Monday 28th of October, the big battle. 200 coppers, 20 police vans and 1 helicopter arrived at the old cinema. The squatters, behind the barricades built with old furniture on the terraces of the building, tried to defend themselves throwing objects to the police, but the coppers attacked them shooting rubber balls and using water„cannons, before entering the building (they were equipped with ladders for this purpose). Finally, the squatters were defeated and 48 people (squatters and sympathisers) were arrested. 20 people injured. All political parties (except the right wing ones, surprise, surprise) criticised the police's brutality. The situation now is that 15 people remain arrested, and 6 of them have already been on trial, with sentences between 1 and 2 years of prison. Normally, if you get a sentence of less than 2 years you don't have to go to prison. In the case of one prisioner, he got 2 years and 2 months plus 1 year for "Insumisión" (that is, for refusing to do the military service or any other social service as compensation), plus 1 year for anti-fascist stuff. Altogether, 4 years and 2 months, so he'll have to go to prison. Since that initial court case, 9 other squatters have been called to court, with expected sentences for 1-2 years. Two of them who are under eighteen have denied the allegations. The other seven have refused to testify. They are: Jorge Alberto Fernandez, Pau Vilaseca, Juan José Pareja, Gabriel Javier Vigaté, David Pocez, Luis Vicente Gil and Basilio Oko Ejaka. Another case is that of Todd Benson, an English teacher who has been sentenced for 2 years for rioting against the police... at a time when he was teaching miles away!. In spite of him providing proof of this, he has still been sentenced! He, like many of the arrested people, was guilty of being young and trying to cross the street. They need scapegoats to set an example, they need sacrificial lambs for their "new" regime, so called law and order. And they don't care.

Finally, it must be pointed out as well that there were some irregularities in the legal process. The judge taking the case did not send Mr. Arnau (the squatters' lawyer) the eviction order until three hours AFTER the police had evicted the squatters, so Mr Arnau didn't have the chance to appeal against that decision. On top of that, at the time of the eviction, the squatters were still negotiating with the owners. The judge didn't take the squatters' statements into account, because she said that the police provided more guarantee of reliability than a bunch of youngsters. Is this the new democratic Spain? Where, from the start, the coppers are always right just because they are coppers, full stop? Where an English teacher can be sentenced for 2 years for doing NOTHING? Where a group of young people doing a creative, constructive and socially positive task, and demanding a right as basic as sleeping under a roof can be imprisoned? At the moment, somesolidarity groups are carrying out a number of actions, like picketing some Tourist Agencies in Catalonia. Any ideas, letters of support, etc. will be welcomed.For more information and letters, you can write to: Assemblea d'Okupes Barna (Ateneo Llibertari@Gracia) C/Perill 52 baix Barcelona 08012 Spain Telephone: 00 34 3 458 46 37 Fax: 00 34 3 474 46 15

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