Spanish firefighters are refusing orders to participate in evictions because their duty is to \u201cserve the public\u201d and intervene in \u201cemergencies\u201d and not to be \u201cpuppets of the bank or its servants in the government\u201d.<\/i><\/p>\n
Firefighters in Galicia, Catalonia and the Madrid region have rejected any action that \u201ccontributes to inequalities and miseries suffered by the working class,\u201d said the CCOO union.<\/p>\n
Galician fire crews \u201chave proven to be on the side of social justice\u201d by refusing to participate in the eviction of Aurelia Rey, an 85 year-old woman.<\/p>\n
Some 200 protesters gathered to prevent the elderly lady\u2019s eviction, which had been triggered\u00a0because she had fallen behind on rent by one month.\u00a0The action was organized by Stop Desahucios [Stop Evictions], a group formed to prevent thousands of evictions of those who have fallen behind on rent and mortgages due to austerity amid worsening economic conditions<\/p>\n
The group succeeded in blocking police from forcefully throwing Aurelia Ray out of her property.<\/p>\n
Last Saturday mass demonstrations against brutal repossession laws took place across Spain.<\/p>\n
Current policy allows Spanish banks, which have been repeatedly bailed out by Spanish taxpayers and are line for a 100 billion euros EU bailout \u2013 that is from citizens across the EU \u2013 to repossess a home, while any remaining debt is still owed by the former owners.<\/p>\n
More than 350,000 Spaniards have received eviction orders since 2008 because they were unable to pay their mortgages as a housing boom fuelled by the banks went bust.<\/p>\n
Parliament has agreed to debate a citizens\u2019 motion that would protect indebted homeowners from eviction and has also agreed to suspend foreclosures for two years.<\/p>\n
However, the government has so far rejected permanent new legislation.<\/p>\n
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Revolting Europe – Writer on Europe’s left, trade union and social movements. revolting.europe@gmail.com<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n