BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - In a significant move, police in northeastern Spain began enforcing eviction orders on Wednesday to clear an abandoned school building that had served as a squatting site for hundreds of mostly undocumented migrants. This site, located in Badalona, a working-class city adjacent to Barcelona, had become home to many sub-Saharan migrants, primarily from Senegal and Gambia, who had taken refuge in the vacant structure since its abandonment in 2023.
Prior to the police operation, many occupants anticipated the eviction and vacated the premises. Early in the morning, riot police from Catalonia's regional force entered the school under court orders to carry out the eviction. Badalona's mayor, Xavier García Albiol, announced the eviction on social media platform X, stating, “As I had promised, the eviction of the squat of 400 illegal squatters in the B9 school in Badalona begins.”
Lawyer Marta Llonch, representing the squatters, expressed concerns about the repercussions of the eviction, noting that many individuals relied on selling scrap metal collected from the streets for their livelihood. Some occupants held residency and work permits but were forced to live in the squat due to the unaffordability of housing in the area. “Many people are going to sleep on the street tonight,” Llonch warned, emphasizing that merely evicting these individuals would not resolve their situation. “If you don’t give them an alternative place to live, they will now be on the street, which will be a problem for them and the city.”
Mayor García Albiol, a member of the conservative Popular Party, has established his political identity with an anti-immigration stance during his tenure as Badalona's mayor. The town hall justified the eviction by labeling the squat as a public safety hazard, a concern made more acute by a tragic incident in 2020, when a fire at an old factory housing around a hundred migrants in Badalona resulted in four fatalities.
Like other southern European nations, Spain has experienced a persistent influx of migrants over the past decade, who risk their lives navigating perilous crossings of the Mediterranean or Atlantic in small boats. While many developed countries have adopted stringent policies against immigration, Spain's left-leaning government has maintained that legal migration contributes positively to the nation’s economic growth.
The eviction in Badalona highlights the ongoing challenges faced by migrants in Spain, particularly as local governments grapple with the implications of housing shortages and public safety. With humanitarian concerns being raised, the situation poses difficult questions about how societies should handle undocumented migration and the urgent need for adequate housing options for vulnerable populations.
