Joan Escaió, settled at the top of Carmel, curses those who hit him last Wednesday night. “My hips hurt a lot… I got kicked karate in the middle of the chest & rdquor ;, says the man, while showing the rosary of bruises that slips down his arm. She is 76 years old and has lived since the day she was born in the house attached to the top of the Turó de la Rovirawhere the bunkersfocus of neighborhood unrest due to the tourism massive that moves beyond the center of Barcelona. It is the second time that those who go up wanting to party beat him up. “Two years ago they broke my face. They had to give me 11 points. But this year has been the worst. On top of that, 1.6 million euros have been spent on a fence that is useless & rdquor ;, he rants.
A few dozen residents of Carmel have gathered this Monday to condemn the attack. Escaió exposes that he recorded “20 or 25 people & rdquor; who climbed the fence that the City Council installed at the beginning of May to try to contain the crowds. The crowd attracted by the views of the city that the summit offers has been driving residents crazy for years: just on one night last April, 1,300 people were evicted.
“Rosa Alarcon [exconcejal de Horta-Guinardó] He says that the fence is very good for the neighbors, but I want to show that it is not. I record with my mobile those who jump the fence, because every day hundreds of people continue to go up to do bottle. It is true that now there are a little fewer people than before the fence, because some are responsible and leave, but others do not. If they don’t sneak in, they stay around. There is negligence & rdquor ;, complains Escaió, who denounced the encounter that went badly off to the Mossos d’Esquadra.
The victim told the police that she blamed a group of six or seven young people for assaulting the fence. “You don’t respect Barcelona! Closed is closed! [¡No respetáis a Barcelona! ¡Cerrado es cerrado!]& rdquor ;, he snapped at them, in English, as he usually does so that tourists understand him. Instead, the boys confronted him in Spanish. One of them kicked Escaió, causing him to fall backwards. In the midst of the confusion, a girl from the gang stole his mobile. The man tried to defend himself with a motorcycle chain, but when he got up, the boys had already fled.
“I have not recovered the mobile. This one cost me 1,500 euros& rdquor ;, exhibits Joan. It shows on the screen of the new phone where the GPS of the old key terminal is hiding: it is always going around the same street, not far away, in Can Baro. The Mossos answer that, for now, the investigation hasn’t yielded results. “They are inefficient. How can they not get caught if I see where they are? They tell me that, if he moves, to call 112 & rdquor ;, she grumbles.
“One time event”
The Horta-Guinardó district responds that the beating that the neighbor suffered “is a specific event & rdquor ;. “The City Council forcefully condemns it, but it is not a common occurrence & rdquor ;, wields the consistory, which adds that the presence of the Urban Guard It will remain in the “as now” zone. “It has already been reinforced especially at night and on weekends & rdquor ;, highlights the district, which affirms that it has made itself available to Escaió. The neighbor denies it.
The Consell del Turó de la Rovira also disagrees with the district. The group brings together residents fed up with the tourist avalanche and opposed to the fence that surrounds the crest. “The administration tries to relativize, which confirms the tolerance it has with the tourism sector. What happened to Joan could have happened to anyone. It is one more example of the violence with which we find ourselves & rdquor ;, warns Fran Bernal, vice president of the Turó de la Rovira Neighborhood Association, critical of the fence: “It does not solve the problem, it is completely ineffective. We still can’t sleep. The police device that existed until elections it has been diluted. It is not a question of the neighborhood, but of the city. It has to be treated as if it were the royal squarehe park guell wave Barcelonetabecause it generates neighborhood problems, dirt and coexistence & rdquor ;.
“We have not noticed any improvement with the fence. It has gotten worse, because now we have tourists in front of our house,” says Montse, a resident of the street muhlberg, one of which leads to the batteries. Attest that you have received expletives and contempt: “At so many in the morning, we have music and Screams every day. Now it is from Monday to Sunday, although Fridays and Saturdays are worse. They have thrown down the fence of my house, they have entered my garden, they have thrown cans, they have urinated inside, they have defecated… It’s been 12 years like this, but this year we’ve seen more people and more vandalism. Some told me that they did it because ‘Spain is different’& rdquor;.
Related news
María lives next door to Montse. She explains that they broke into her house twice in recent years: he has shielded her so that she does not repeat herself. “Before they bothered when they went down drunk, but now we have them in the neck. above are angry because they don’t let them in and, then, they take it with us & rdquor ;, the neighbor believes.
“It would have been better than the money That was spent on the fence, they would have dedicated it to posting policemen. With two we would have had enough& rdquor ;, thinks Escaió, who fears that the fence is the prelude to completely sealing off the passage to the anti-aircraft batteries. “They have promoted them as a tourist place and now they have stolen a piece of Barcelona that belongs to everyone. The next step will be to charge admission & rdquor ;, he suspects.