A CORUÑA, SPAIN — At position 14 in the queue outside a residential doorway, our observation began. The queue had assembled to protest the removal of an 87-year-old local female from the flat she occupied. Removal of occupants from dwellings, including occupants of advanced age, is an established procedure of the species; what was unusual here was the audience. Witnesses raised recording devices. The footage circulated. Shortly afterward, the governance unit of Spain announced a ban on evictions, part of a package of proposals that must be approved by parliament within 30 days.
We counted. Between 10:12 and 11:40 the crowd produced 61 raised phones aimed at one doorway, 14 repetitions of a chant consisting of the local word for shame, 3 speeches delivered through a megaphone, and 1 grandmother — absent, counted aloud by strangers who had never met her. A woman at position 6 held a laminated sign reading TODAY HER, TOMORROW WHO KNOWS. Lamination indicates planned attendance. At position 9, a man distributed sunflower seeds and opinions in equal measure.
Then the officials performed their own counting, in public: the age, the flat, the removal, the protests. This concluded, they announced the ban. Under the proposal, evictions would be prohibited; the proposals must be approved by parliament within 30 days. Locals described the 30 days as proof that action was underway. Our instruments recorded a countdown during which removals remain, formally, available.
'Nobody counts a grandmother until the counting is public,' said Marisol Vidal, 63, a retired school crossing guard, at position 9. 'Then everybody counts. It is not complicated.' Nearby, a Deputy Secretary for Residential Continuity told this correspondent: 'The public has made its feelings known, and we have counted them. The ban will protect the vulnerable, subject to approval.' Asked what the vulnerable were called before approval, he displayed his badge and concluded the exchange.
Our day-end tally, recorded at the doorway: grandmothers removed, 1; bans proposed, 1; days allotted for approval, 30; grandmothers currently protected, 0, pending count; phones still raised at an empty doorway at 18:00, 4. The colony dispersed in good order, satisfied. The species does not appear to require that its oldest members be safe. It requires that a removal be witnessed, and that the witnessing be answered with a number.
