About 30 people were sleeping at the site when a fire broke out in the camp’s solidarity market, organisers said. Eyewitnesses said fire also damaged one of the makeshift shelters. Spain’s emergency service 112 received the fire alert at about 2:05am on 5 November. Firefighters and Policía Local attended, La Voz del Sur reported. No injuries were recorded. A camp member told Ideal that the burned tent was near a generator.
National Police sources told ABC that officers received a report shortly after 3:30am of hooded people carrying sticks approaching the camp beside the Palacio de Congresos. La Voz del Sur placed the police alert at about 3:45am. The reported approach came after the fire, and no connection between the two incidents had been established. The group reportedly tried to assault protesters, but police have not confirmed that a confrontation took place. Officers said they had no record of injuries.
Police sent several units to the site. According to police, the group ran towards Camino de Ronda when officers arrived. Its members had not been identified at the time of the report. ABC reported that there had been no arrests and no formal complaint filed at that point. Camp members told Ideal they planned to submit individual complaints to Policía Nacional.
In a statement, camp members said the fire could have ended in tragedy. They reported that flames took hold in the solidarity market at the southern end of the camp and said people there had previously been threatened with being burned. Those are claims by the organisers, who said they would make no accusations without evidence.
The housing-rights protest has continued in Granada for about a month, even after camps in several other cities were cleared, including at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. ABC reported that around 20 tents were at the Granada site, while a local newsletter had described roughly 50 tents remaining earlier in the week. Organisers intended to continue at least until the 11 November general strike. A separate report on Ceuta concerned police clearances of migrant settlements, a distinct operation.
The camp’s continued presence also coincided with the expected 6 November visit of Vox president Santiago Abascal to the Palacio de Congresos area. Radio Nacional de España reported that, after the fire and participants’ accounts of threats, Policía Nacional invited the campers to leave voluntarily. The report described a police request, not a completed clearance.
The organisers called for the public and local groups to help replace destroyed materials and rebuild the market. They asked police to investigate the incident and identify those responsible, while guaranteeing the safety of people at the camp.
