Thursday, March 28

Squatting and express eviction of the symbolic headquarters of Patio Maravillas in Pez

The building on Calle del Pez 21, the former headquarters of Patio Maravillas, was once again a squatted social center for two hours on Friday. At 7:00 p.m. it was announced by the assembly of La Ingobernable after a powerful public staging, in which some two hundred people have mobilized in a festive attitude on the cobblestone of Calle del Pez. The group stated that the purpose of the squatting was to make the building “available to the social movements of the city of Madrid”

The group stated that they were also occupying the building “to fight against the closure of social centers that Almeida is carrying out in the city.” From the façade, which still bears memories of the presence of the Patio Maravillas (such as the colorful mural at the entrance), they uncovered a banner that reads: “They for money. Us for love”.

Number 21 Calle del Pez was the seat of Patio Maravillas from January 2010 to June 2015. Since then it has remained empty and its windows boarded up, without the owner group –Level 29, also owners of the San Ildefonso Market– having managed to change the use of the property from residential to tertiary lodging. The idea of ​​the owners of the idea building was, first, to set up a hotel establishment and then tourist apartments.

La Ingobernable considered this occupation as the swan song from which a new project would be born. The collective was dissolved and a constituent process. “We invite the residents of Madrid to participate in the constitutional process to expand our alliances and update the role that social centers play in the construction of the city’s struggles,” said Andrés F, spokesperson for the collective.

La Ingobernable was the self-managed squatted social center (CSOA) of a metropolitan nature that took over the Patio Maravillas in Madrid. It worked at its headquarters on Calle Gobernador (next to Paseo del Prado) from May 2017 to November 2019. Subsequently, it has had other ephemeral headquarters – which were quickly evicted – on Alberto Bosch and Cruz streets. On May 8 they also squatted the UGT headquarters on Hortaleza street (where a hotel will be built) but the police vacated the building the following morning.

The eviction, to the minute

Starting at 7:30 p.m. the area was cordoned off by the police, who seemed to want to evacuate and were carrying out charges. The people gathered by La Ingobernable shouted “10, 100, 1000 social centers.”

At 8:15 p.m., the police kicked out the door to the people who resisted sitting in front of it but, for the moment, they did not enter the building.

La Ingobernable announced at 8:40 p.m. that the building was being evicted “without a court order.”





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