- As announced, the Etxarri II youth centre in the Rekalde district of Bilbao has been evacuated with the operation launched by the Basque Government at 9 a.m. In the afternoon there will be a protest demonstration in the neighborhood, starting at 19:00 from the train station of Amezola.
The evacuation of the Etxarri II youth centre was announced for Friday morning, but the operation began on Thursday afternoon. The police met with numerous forces at the site and kept the entire area of the youth center under control throughout the night to carry out the eviction order this morning.
From the adjacent buildings, he entered the youth centre at the announced time and expelled the group of young people defending the youth centre at around 10 a.m. There was no arrest. Dozens of people gathered around the youth center to show support for the young people who were inside and denounce their expulsion.
On Thursday afternoon there was a demonstration in the neighborhood to show support for the youth center, and when the demonstration approached the vicinity of the youth center, the border guards who had surrounded it attacked the demonstrators. Then there were riots and protesters raided the barricades.
The Anti-Fascist Network reported that six people were wounded by the army. According to the Gedar portal, one of them has had to undergo an emergency cut. According to the revelary, there were also five detainees and four of them have already been released. Police also said four officers were injured in the incident.
From Cucuta to Etxarri
The Rekalde district has a strong youth tradition and has previously evacuated many buildings dedicated to it, the most significant of which was the Kukutza III building, which was evacuated in 2011. Then there were big riots in the neighborhood and thousands of people took to the streets to protest the closure. Since 1996, two more Kukutza have also been evacuated.
The young people of the recently evacuated Etxarri II youth centre have blamed the Bilbao City Council and the construction company Amenabar for this Friday’s evacuation. The young people explain that there is a project to build hundreds of houses on this plot, but only a few of them are Official Protection Houses, most of which will be luxurious, more than half a million euros and totally inaccessible to young people.