Zaragoza City Council announced the measure last April, involving an investment of €3.3 million to return the municipal building to public use. It has been illegally occupied for more than 16 years. As Chueca previously explained, having a specific plan and a clear social purpose—in this case, serving older people in the neighborhood—is key to justifying the intervention before the courts, as happened with Luis Buñuel.
The initiative aims to address a shortcoming in the Torrero district, which currently has no dedicated center for older people. They have to share spaces with other users at the civic center. The project seeks to preserve the building’s architectural value, although its structure needs to be reinforced because it has not been maintained for years and reports dating back to 2011 warned of its deterioration.
Meanwhile, in May, the Kike Mur Occupied Social Center assembly announced that it would not “voluntarily leave the space.” In its view, the municipal project does not address “an urgent social need,” but rather represents “a political decision” as part of a broader strategy against Zaragoza’s self-managed spaces.
