Can Vies (also known as ''Centre Social Autogestionat Can Vies'') is a building located in the

Sants Sants is a neighbourhood in the southern part of Barcelona. It belongs to the district of Sants-Montjuïc and is bordered by the districts of Eixample to the northeast, Les Corts to the northwest, and by the municipality of l'Hospitalet de Llobr ...

neighborhood of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, built in 1879. It has been

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

since 1997, when a group of youths occupied it and began using it as a self-managed social centre and

infoshop Infoshops are places in which people can access anarchist or autonomist ideas. They are often stand-alone projects, or can form part of a larger radical bookshop, archive, self-managed social centre or community centre. Typically, infoshops offer ...

. In late May 2014, riots broke out in a successful attempt to stop an eviction. The building was partially demolished and rebuilt by the local community.

Eviction attempt

In May 2014, negotiations took place between the owners of the building, Barcelona's public transport operator

Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) is the main public transit operator in Barcelona. A combination of two formerly-separate companies, ''Ferrocarril Metropolità de Barcelona, SA.'' and ''Transports de Barcelona, SA.'', it runs most of th ...

and the

squatters Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

. After the negotiations failed, the building was evicted on May 26, and demolition works commenced. As a result, Barcelona experienced riots and protests during the following nights. The protests also spread to the cities of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, Mallorca and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. The government sent an additional 200 police officers to Barcelona to help in dealing with the protests. In a successful attempt to stop the demolition, protesters built barricades and set the excavator on fire.

Reconstruction

The building was resquatted and a community-based reconstruction program begun. The local government announced on May 30, that the building would not be demolished. Can Vies launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund the rebuilding costs, which were estimated at €70,000. In the end, €90,000 was quickly raised.

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Barcelona Squats in Spain Squats Squatting Infoshops

Eviction attempt

Reconstruction

See also

References