The Testimony of a Catalan Woman That Dismantles the Official Narrative About Squatting

Catalonia is experiencing a new surge in insecurity despite the PSC Govern's shock plans to reduce crime. Squatting is one of the factors behind this increase in insecurity. Although the official narrative says there is no such problem, it is rather an interest-driven use by the far right to criminalize certain groups.

The left says that squatting affects a very small percentage of the population who are, moreover, well-off classes. They also argue that the problem is not squatting but that there are too many empty apartments and many people living on the street.

The parties governing in Catalonia spread the idea that the police are already taking care of the problem, evicting squatters within 24 hours. But does it really happen that way? The testimony of a Catalan woman disproves it, and she is not the only one.

'The 24 Hours Thing Is a Lie'

Sicrit claims it is "a lie" that the police evict squatters within 24 hours if they occupy the apartment where you live. A friend of hers bought a second-hand apartment, she explains, and "while she was renovating it, some squatters moved in." She reveals that "the police have already told her she won't get it back for a year."

This Catalan woman calls what is happening in Catalonia "shameful" and "unsustainable." But she is not the only one. Another Catalan woman, Isabel Castro, agrees with her and explains what is happening.

"I'm tired of seeing people's homes being occupied when they go on vacation or for work and it takes between 8 months and 2 years to get their home back," she states. She emphasizes that these are not second homes but the home where they live.

According to this expert, the situation has become more complicated after the decrees extending evictions during COVID. She warns that "Catalonia has become a no man's land, with the endorsement of the Generalitat and the State."

She confirms that "the 24-hour rule is applied in very few cases because when you return from a trip, they have changed the lock and have domiciled the pizza."

She laments "the cynicism of those who stir up false data from power," which "clash head-on with the forensic practice of the courts and the reality that citizens suffer."