Tensions mounts during two squatter evacuations by police

The Federal Police and other officials were dispatched to the to the Villa 31 slum in Retiro, and to the abandoned ex-Bodegas Giol site in Palermo, to carry out the clearing of occupied streets and holdings, despite having experienced resistence.

The evacuation of the ex-Bodegas Giol site in Palermo by police was abandoned, where 150 squatters currently live on the settlement. Police at the scene in Villa 31, Retiro successfully carried out the clearing of the occupied street holding slum housing, and continued to guard the area.

Earlier, over one hundred officials were sent to Villa 31 in Retiro, to patrol and clear a group of streets inside the slum, impeding materials from being taken into the construction site of a new settlement. The abandoned ex-Bodegas Giol site in Palermo, also considered federal property, began to be evacuated, but the operation was stopped by police. 

At Retiro, among the streets which had been occupied for the last few months, tension had begun to build when police started to take control over the area. Occupants resisted orders of evacuation, and officers threatened residents with tear gas. A SAME emergency services ambulance was also attacked, while paramedics were trying to help a wounded victim, by an anonymous group.

Many slum housing construction sites have been removed from the Villa 31 site along the railway tracks in recent months. The occupants on the villa 31 site had been there for the “past 22 days” however they were living on “Federal property,” officials informed. It was also reaffirmed that "it is illegal to construct on the streets,” by the Security Ministry. This particular evacuation was ordered by Judge Ariel Lijo.