A court in Bilbao, Spain, issued a ruling Sept. 23 allowing demolish the building which until now has housed the Kukutza Gaztetxe squatter community center in the city’s Rekalde district. Eviction of the property began on two days earlier. The decision after the Basque Country’s Superior Court of Justice rejected a petition by the Errekaldeberriz residents association to halt the planned demolition and maintain the building as a youth center. (EITB, Sept. 23)
The Traveller and Roma community at Dale Farm in Basildon, England, is meanwhile awaiting a decision of the High Court in London on an injunction halting their eviction. The Basildon Council is hoping to overturn an injunction won by residents stopping the clearance. (BBC News, Sept. 23)
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Bats stall Dale Farm demolition
Police began evicting the Dale Farm travellers site last week, meeting resistance form protesters, with at least three arrested. In a cliché of how “Gypsies” are shunted from town to town, a council leader in nearby St. Helens blasted the leader of Basildon Council for suggesting St. Helens as a possible destination for evicted Dale Farm travellers. Ironically, days after the eviction, demolition of the structures at the site was stalled by the revelation that protected bat species are roosting in some of them. (St. Helens Reporter, Daily Mail, Oct. 26; BBC News, Oct. 23)