The local council plans to collect signatures to promote a modification of the current legislation
The local police Caldes de Malavella (La Selva) and the Mossos d’Esquadra have frustrated the occupation in block of 22 floors located in the same building in the town, on Girona street. As reported by the town hall, last Thursday, September 15, several neighbors and the police alerted the town hall that thirty people had entered en masse in this block. The empty building is private property and some of the flats are in the hands of banks. Both the owners and the banking entities have denounced the facts, as explained by the consistory.
After negotiating for hours with the squatters, the mayor Salvador Balliu, who expressly went to the place, and the police managed to get them to leave voluntarily.
The mayor assures that situations like this “cannot be allowed” and demands legislative changes “so that the rights” of the owners are not violated. The council plans to start a collection of signatures to propose a change in the legislation on housing occupations.
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“We find ourselves in a difficult situation. People who occupy flats out of necessity are cared for and helped by Social Services, but we also find squatters acting for illegal reasons and that cause inconvenience to the neighbors, and we cannot allow that”, stressed the mayor. “The laws do not protect us and it is a situation that is repeated in all Catalan municipalities. If the law does not help in these situations, we will have to propose a change so that the rights of the people whose homes are occupied are not violated,” added Balliu.
Occupations are a common problem in Caldes, where the police monitor to identify new occupations and act quickly, within their powers. Last week, without going any further, action was taken on homes occupied “for criminal reasons” in various urbanizations in the municipality and the supply was cut off to five houses that had the light punctured.