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Civil War

Battlefield Barcelona: Carrer Diputació, July, 1936

2nd September 2015
Assault Guards on Carrer Diputació, Barcelona, by Agusti Centelles

The streets of Barcelona comprise a battlefield which has hosted, and continues to host, skirmishes and more enduring clashes between armed police and local people.

The streets of Barcelona have seen fierce battles over issues such as workers’ rights, the all-pervasive influence of the Church, education, Republicanism, a Stalinist coup, national independence, workers’ self-management, property speculation, squatters’ rights, forced evictions and revolution.

Friday, July 17th, 1936:

Barcelona is awash with rumours — have they or haven’t they?

Tensions are high.

Has a cabal of generals and colonels issued orders to the armed forces to rise against the Republic?

Radio and telephone messages from Morocco suggest so. But government censors suppress newspapers and radio stations from broadcasting what little information there is.

Anarchist spies in barracks across Barcelona report that a military uprising is set to begin during the early hours of Sunday, July 19th.

Local authorities refuse workers’ demands for weapons. Activists in the transport workers union take the initiative and raid two ships in the harbour. They expropriate and distribute 200 rifles.

Saturday, July 18th:

Interminable meetings between representatives of the CNT (Anarcho-Syndicalist union), the police, Assault guards, Guardia Civil and regional government are deadlocked by President Lluís Companys’s refusal to arm workers.

Meanwhile, anarchist militants detain a Guardia Civil courier; he is carrying precise military orders — the uprising is to begin at 5am on Sunday, July 19th.

Barricades go up on Paral·lel, Les Rambles and in Sants, Hostafranc, Poble Nou and Sant Andreu, and in neighbouring Sant Adrìa de Besos.

Sunday, July 19th:

5am: Artillery, cavalry and infantry units are on the move…factory sirens in Poble Nou and Poble Sec sound the alarm…armed priests, together with fascists from among their congregations, take up positions in church towers… Continue Reading…

The Transition

Battlefield Barcelona: Passeig de Sant Joan, 1976

5th August 2015
Los Grises in Passeig de Sant Joan, February 1976

The streets of Barcelona comprise a battlefield which has hosted, and continues to host, skirmishes and more enduring clashes between armed police and local people.

The streets of Barcelona have seen fierce battles over issues such as workers’ rights, the all-pervasive influence of the Church, education, Republicanism, a Stalinist coup, representative democracy, national independence, workers’ self-management, property speculation, squatters’ rights, forced evictions and revolution.

The city’s layout has been largely informed by the needs of the army.

For example:

  • Via Laietana, was deliberately created to allow cavalry units to disperse hostile crowds forming outside the inner city walls.
  • Avinguda Diagonal was created to enable rapid access to the heart of the city by troops based in barracks near Pedralbes.
  • Parc Ciutadella was once the site of an enormous miltary citadel.
  • The castle on Montjuïc, was only handed to the city in 2008; until 1963 it was a prison run by the military to incarcerate and sometimes execute, dissidents.

1976: Los Grises on Passeig de Sant Joan

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The Transition

Battlefield Barcelona

9th July 2015
Grises en Gran de Gràcia, Barcelona

The streets of Barcelona comprise a battlefield which has hosted, and continues to host, skirmishes and more enduring clashes between armed police and local people.

The streets of Barcelona have seen fierce battles over issues such as workers’ rights, the pernicious, all-pervasive influence of the Church, education, Republicanism, a Stalinist coup, representative democracy, independence, workers’ self-management, property speculation, squatters’ rights, forced evictions and revolution.

The city’s layout has been largely informed by the tactical manoeuvre needs of the army. For example, Via Laietana, was deliberately created to allow cavalry units to disperse hostile crowds forming outside the inner city walls. Avinguda Diagonal was created, in part, to enable rapid access to the heart of the city by troops based in barracks near Pedralbes. Parc Ciutadella was once the site of an enormous miltary citadel. The castle on Montjuïc, was only handed to the city in 2008; until 1963 it was a prison run by the military to incarcerate and sometimes execute, dissidents.

1976: Los Grises in Els Jardinets

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Civil War

Spanish Civil War Posters

7th May 2015
GCEcarteles

The image in the bottom right-hand corner isn’t a poster — it’s a cover from a magazine published by a Barcelona based collective of members of Mujeres Libres (Free Women), the anarcho-feminist solidarity group.