2nd of September, 2013:
News from the anti-MAT struggle in the Girona area of Catalonia
The active resistance camp against the MAT (very high tension electricity line) taking place near Girona has squatted a huge, antique, abandoned farmhouse near the village of Orriols, in order to give continuity to the struggle against this deadly project and the world which needs it. The resistance against the MAT has been active for more than a decade and has now reached a crucial point seeing that the construction of the line has now started in this area and is going ahead at a furious pace.
The police are constantly harassing the squatted zone and farmhouse. This is the squat's fifth day and the second day since the doors were opened to anyone who wishes to contribute to the struggle against the MAT and intends to organize collectively in order to stop it. The liberated space, located very near to where two pylons are being constructed, is like sand in the gears and cogs of this machine of death and destruction driven by industrialists and politicians and defended by the police and journalists.
During the last week of August the police presence around the camp in Fellines and its activities was very strong: people stopped and identified, provocations, number plates written down, constant patrolling along the surrounding roads, protest marches blocked, a helicopter flying above the camp and hovering near it at low altitude, presumably taking photos, etc. However, the harassment did not stop the people who came from all over the surrounding areas, the Spanish State and other European countries, and even spurred them to intensify the struggle, as can be seen with this new squatted area which seems to have thrown the police off-balance.
On the 1st of September it was made public knowledge that the abandoned Mas Castelló farmhouse had been squatted as a new space of resistance and coordination, and soon enough the police arrived in great numbers, suddenly waking up to the fact that the action had taken place right under their noses and despite all their checkpoints. The barricades built along the dirt track leading to the house, the presence of many people behind them and some other resisters on the roof of the new squat, helped keep the police away, even though they tried to advance showing plastic bullet guns, firing a few shots into the air, perhaps bringing dogs to the scene, threatening and shouting and throwing rocks at the resisters in order to provoke them and thus create the legal situation necessary for a speedy eviction order. Before nightfall, however, the forces of repression withdrew most of their faithful soldiers, only to come back a little later as a small group accompanying the owner of the house, shouting threats and trying to identify the people on the roof.
The night was quiet but this morning saw the arrival of many police vans yet again. Some of the barricades have been removed by firefighters and by a tractor which was probably ordered to do so by the owner of the house. Some hours later most of the vans filed away and the resisters got back to the tasks necessary in order to make Mas Castelló a meeting point for locals and non-locals who will continue the struggle against this deadly megaproject.
Everyone is invited to come and participate to help defend the land around Girona. People are arriving but greater numbers are necessary, so come and show your support!
If you are unable to be physically present, express your solidarity in whichever way you see fit, wherever possible and as soon as possible.
Mas Castelló resists!