2011-08-02 Sol Square evicted in the morning, thousands demonstrating during the night in #Madrid #spanishrevolution #nopararemos

Eviction

Today around 6:30 in the morning, a large police presence, consisting of national police and local police, appeared in Sol square, where the info point Sol still was present, as well as a great oil painting which some called the “new Guernika”(new version of Picasso's one at Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid) and the metal plate that read “We were asleep, we woke up, square taken”.

Since the people's assembly of Sol decided to dismantle the encampment, the info-point was a permanent stand to provide information related to the movement in the Square. Cleaning services arrived escorted by 20 riot police vans, their job was to clean everything up and leave no sign of the 15 May Revolution Movement at Sol.

Police blocking access to #Sol Square.

Reaction of people

During the day, people organized in Assemblies in Madrid to plan what to do after the eviction of Sol. It was decided to organize an attempt of re-occupation of the square at 20:00 local time.

The protest called for the late evening against the eviction of Puerta del Sol during the morning, found Sol Square closed off by a large police operation. Nobody was allowed inside unless they were authorized or are permanent residents. In the area surrounding Sol, Police performed temporary arrests (including a journalist) and demanded personal identification during the afternoon. The Metro Station, one of the largest in the city, was closed by Government orders. This caused hundreds of people to congregate around the neighboring streets, shouting their usual slogans, as well as claiming that the eviction took place because of the imminent visit by the Pope.

The outraged movement claims to feel strengthened by the actions taken by the Government to evict them, saying that once again, they are demonstrating their true face. It is not a democracy, they say, where interests such as the Pope’s visit are way above the peoples right to protest in a public square. The protest has gone on peacefully and spontaneously as a march started slowly towards Plaza Cibeles where everyone met from the different parts of the city as a larger mass which went to the front of the National Parliament and finally tried to reach Sol once more. In the process one of Madrid’s main commercial streets the Gran Via was blocked.

Demonstration held in front of the National Parliament this night in Madrid

After heading back to Sol and finding it still blocked, people decided to take Plaza Mayor - the historical square of Madrid - and created a popular assembly there, gathering thousands of people.

Solidarity marches have been called for around Spain at the same time, as activist hubs are talking about reclaiming the streets. You can follow the action live on the Twitter hashtag #nopararemos.