Valencia housing camp to scale down as city calls it incompatible with Christmas

A camp in its second month

The Acampada València has occupied part of the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in Valencia for more than a month, campaigning for the right to housing. La Razón reports that the occupation had lasted one month and six days as of 9 November, and that the number of tents has grown even as the number of people taking part has begun to fall. The camp started about a week after the Madrid camp at Puerta del Sol, which La Razón says has since been cleared. Organisers first split into working groups, and tents spread across the square's streets. An assembly held on Sunday, 8 November, agreed to reorganise the tents and remove those no longer in use.

Organisers announce a progressive de-escalation

On Monday, 9 November, Acampada València announced a progressive de-escalation of the space it occupies, with the stated aim of facilitating normality for local shops before the Christmas campaign. The measures include reducing the occupied area, removing empty tents, concentrating the protest in a smaller zone and cleaning the square. The decision was communicated on Sunday, 8 November, to the commerce sector at a meeting with Borja Ávila, president of the shopkeepers' association of the historic centre. The collective insists that stepping back does not mean abandoning the mobilisation.

The organisers will keep the protest going until the administrations set up a real and effective negotiating table with real powers over housing. They are also preparing for the general strike on Wednesday, 11 November.

City and government call the camp incompatible

A technical meeting between the city council and the Subdelegación del Gobierno, held on the afternoon of 9 November with the police forces, concluded that the camp is incompatible with upcoming events and Christmas installations, citing security. Council representatives presented police reports saying that heavy foot traffic from Christmas shopping and square activities, with part of the space lined with tents, could create a problem if emergency vehicles had to intervene. Officials on both sides said keeping even a minimal or symbolic presence is not viable.

Mayor María José Catalá proposed moving the camp a few metres to leave room for shopkeepers, and she said there is no plan B other than the square recovering normality for everyone. She added that the council had shown patience and dialogue, and that the right to protest had been exercised for a month. She described the shopkeepers' demands in these words:

“What the shopkeepers are asking for goes beyond the ice rink or the carousel.”

Both sides hope the announced de-escalation ends with the protest fully lifted before the Christmas campaign. Catalá could not give a date for when the camp will leave.

Government and business pressure

Government delegate Roger Llanes welcomed the de-escalation as very positive after meeting the CEV and unions ahead of the 11N general strike, and he urged dialogue and consensus with the organisers. He said the organisers' document, sent on 9 November, contains demands that fall almost entirely within the remit of the city council or the Generalitat. He cited a housing law and two royal decrees the government approved, which he hopes the Diputación Permanente of Congress will validate in the week of 9 November. He framed the camp's shrinking space this way:

“Little by little they have decided on their own that they are going to give up more space.”

The Confederación Empresarial Valenciana (CEV) also weighed in. Its president, Vicente Lafuente, said the camp is hurting small shops in the historic centre, and he urged the government, the Generalitat and the city council to agree on coordinated action. He also said he does not believe such camps will solve a problem as serious as housing. He put his complaint directly:

“We are very worried about that camp because it is already doing a lot of economic damage, especially to small shops in the historic centre.”

Lafuente called on the three administrations to sit down and find solutions soon.