The Sol camp loses its organising core and looks to the neighbourhoods

Two emails from the Delegación del Gobierno sent in less than a week preceded the departure of around 600 people from the camp, according to Zahira Pagán, spokesperson for those who left. The notice stated that “it might be legitimate to bring it to an end.”

Most of the committees that had kept the camp going left Puerta del Sol after more than a month. Their members proposed moving activities to the neighbourhoods and turning Acampada 26S into a social and working-class movement. For them, the protest had already succeeded in putting their demands on the agenda.

The camp was not left empty. Of the original ten committees, Comunicación y Pulmón were still active, along with some people from Cuidados y Cultura. The Association of Homeless People also remained, according to Pagán.

The departure happened without a common agreement to dismantle the entire site. The campers had been debating this possibility for weeks: most believed that staying in Sol would not open up new political goals and would wear down those sustaining the protest. The consensus needed for a joint decision never materialised.

Pagán explained that at an assembly held on Thursday, a second email from the Delegación was shared, repeating the previous warning and urging the campers to leave for their own safety. People began leaving between Friday and Saturday. A source familiar with the camp, who asked to remain anonymous, said that those who stayed were aware of the possible eviction and that, according to the Delegación, the right to assemble had lapsed.

The camp began on 26 September in Puerta del Sol after the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, a resident of Retiro. She had to leave her home at the age of 87 and died in hospital three weeks later. During the 35 days of the camp, the Congress of Deputies voted on the so-called Maricarmen decrees, which were not approved. The first tents were set up by the Sindicato de Inquilinas.