Barcelona has finally closed the conflict that was open with the group of former legionnaires who had occupied the old Casernes de Sant Andreu since 2013 and its annexed 5,000 m2 plot. The City Council reported this Friday that the Brotherhood of Former Legionary Knights, which for years refused to leave the place, was evicted by court order and without incident last July.
“The old Casernes de Sant Andreu will be able to continue advancing in their transformation thanks to the vacancy of the land,” the council noted. On the plots, owned by the Barcelona Free Trade Zone Consortium (CZFB) and transferred to the City Council, it has been planned for years to build free and officially protected housing.
The dispute to recover these lands dates back to 2013, when the CZFB decided to transfer them free of charge, both the property and an attached 5,000 m2 plot of land, to the association of former legionnaires. This agreement was signed when the consortium had PP politician Jordi Cornet as a special delegate of the State. From that moment, neighborhood groups began a campaign to recover all the space for the neighborhood.
With the arrival of Ada Colau to the municipal government in 2015, and the subsequent replacement by the socialists at the head of the CZFB, work intensified to evict the entities that occupied the space. Not only the Brotherhood, but also the Brotherhoods of Provisional Sergeants, Mutilated Knights and Former Legionary Knights. These two came to accept compensation to leave the premises, but the Brotherhood of Former Legionary Knights rejected 12,600 euros and became stronger.
Finally, in 2022 the judicial process to evict the occupants began. The Court of First Instance 3 of Barcelona issued a ruling in favor of eviction in 2023, a ruling that was carried out on July 3. Since then, the City Council has eliminated the symbology of these brotherhoods that remained on the façade and other elements of the property.
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