
UPDATE:
February 3: THE new eviction, scheduled for early Tuesday morning at 5 AM, has also been called off after protester rallies. Now, the new eviction will be attempted on February 18 at 9:30 AM.
In the Barcelona of the impossible housing the great monuments are not statues at the crossroads of the streets but discreet buildings that are going to be evicted. This is the case of Casa Orsola, a building on Consell de Cent street that has become the symbol of real estate speculation and that today begins a series of mobilizations to prevent an eviction that is scheduled for tomorrow.
We tell you the full story and explain the program of activities and the chronology of the demonstrations to prevent the eviction.
Who do they want to evict in Casa Orsola?
On Friday, January 31, Josep Torrent, a 49-year-old teacher who has lived for 22 years in Casa Orsola, on the corner of Consell de Cent and Calàbria streets, is scheduled to be evicted. This is the first eviction to be executed in this building after the purchase of the property by the company Lioness Inversiones in 2021, in a process that has caused the progressive expulsion of neighbors due to the drastic increase in rents.
Since the acquisition of the building, tenants have denounced eviction attempts with the imposition of contracts that triple the previous prices, going from 700-900 euros to 2,100-2,800 euros per month. Currently, of the original 27 families, only 18 remain in the estate, five of them in legal proceedings.
Josep Torrent has continued to pay his rent since the end of his contract in 2021 in the hope of finding a solution, but after two years of litigation, the Barcelona High Court has upheld the eviction sentence. In a letter addressed to Jaume Collboni, Salvador Illa and Pedro Sanchez, Torrent has expressed his frustration at the lack of measures to curb real estate speculation and protect tenants from seasonal rentals.
Torrent’s case and that of the whole house has become one of the symbols of the Sindicat de Llogateres, one of the main platforms in the struggle for decent housing in Barcelona, to claim the housing problem in the city.
When is the eviction of the Casa orsola scheduled?
On January 31 at 10:30 am the police are scheduled to arrive to evict Josep Torrent.
What mobilizations are planned?
In response to the eviction, the Sindicat de Llogateres de Catalunya has called several actions to make visible the struggle of the neighbors and try to stop the eviction.
Thursday, January 30
On the afternoon of Thursday, January 30, several activities have been organized at Casa Orsola:
- 18:30 h: Concert by La Ludwig Band.
- 19:30 h: Round table with housing experts and activists.
- 21:00 h: Popular dinner in solidarity with the neighbors.
- Throughout the night: Resistance marathon, with cultural activities and live broadcasts on YouTube and Instagram by Sindicat de Llogateres.
Friday, January 31
On Friday a rally has been called at 9:00 am at Casa Orsola to try to stop the eviction scheduled for 10:30 am.
The call has become quite popular among various sectors, so it is expected that the concentration against the eviction will be important.