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Demonstrators support squatters
HUNDREDS of demonstrators took to the streets of Barcelona following calls for two protests organised, both in favour, and against the occupation of two estates next to the Plaça de la Bonanova.
The focus of both the demonstration is on the buildings, known as ‘La Ruïna’ and ‘El Kubo’, which have been occupied for years by squatters.
According to a news source on Thurs day, May 11, tensions have escalated due to the election campaign in Barcelona, which has put these properties under the spotlight of the rightwing parties, along with calls from the company ‘Desokupa’.
Authorities in Barcelona have deployed nearly 400 Mossos d’Esquadra officers in the area, after the calls for the protests.
Supporters of the extrajudicial evic tion company Desokupa marched to Bonanova square to reach the squatted buildings, while a police cordon was set up to stop them.
The prooccupation demonstrators dressed in masks and black clothes protested on the other side of the police cordon, as the parameter was set up in order to stop both sides from clashing.
Police helicopters were also flying in the area to monitor the situation.
ATTACKS by pods of killer whales on boats sailing in the Strait of Gibraltar are becoming increasingly frequent.
This tension between killer whales and boats is creating a danger for crew members, as another attack was reported last weekend.
According to a news source on Sunday, May 11, two victims of the most recent attack, were sailing off the coast of Cadiz, when they were surprised by a pod of killer whales.
The two sailors named Pablo and Alfredo were in the waters off the town of Barbate in Cadiz when the whales started swimming around the boat and smashed into the hull several times.
This resulted in them breaking the rudder of the boat before they finally left.
The presence of killer whales on the Andalucian coast is quite common, as they visit the area at the beginning of the year.
But for the past four years, their visits have become an in creasingly uncomfortable reality in the area.
DANGEROUS: Their visits have increased over the years.
Their arrival in the area also coincides with the almadraba season, which is the local name for fish traps used to catch bluefin tuna off the coast of Cadiz for thousands of years.
Good Samaritans
THE luck of the Irish was smiling down on a Spanish motor cyclist on May 14 as six Dublin firefighters headed for Malaga Airport after attending a course in Sevilla.
As they were driving along the A92 near to Alcala de Guadaira, about 17 kms from Sevilla they saw the biker had fallen from his motorbike so as trained personnel they sprang into action.
They set up a protected area, posted signs and got on with finding what they could do to help the middleaged biker who was unconscious, with multiple injuries.
The team of paramedics managed to stabilise the injured man so he could breathe which they believe saved him from potential respiratory failure.
A team from the Spanish Emergency Service arrived and and took over the situation.
