Around 400 squatters evicted by riot officers from abandoned school in north of Spain

The mayor of Badalona plans to demolish the building to make way for a police station, but social groups have criticised the act, stating that those removed have nowhere to go

Cristian Reino

Barcelona

Thursday, 18 December 2025, 12:21

The Mossos d'Esquadra regional police force in Spain's Catalonia's region began an eviction operation in a former high school in the town of Badalona (Barcelona province) early on Wednesday morning. A total of 400 people have been living in the abandoned building in the last couple of years. This is the largest eviction ever carried out by the Catalan police.

A court authorised the eviction of the B9 is a municipal building on Friday, 12 December, after a long judicial process. The settlement of immigrants has been going on for two years. The building was initially occupied by about 150 people, up to the current 400.

The first inhabitants left the building voluntarily around 7am on Wednesday. Hundreds of people gathered around the school to try and exert pressure and stop the eviction. Before the police entered, after arriving with around 25 vans, there was tension between them and the support groups.

Badalona town hall requested the eviction authorisation from the court based on a report warning of the structural risk of the building. The court requested the use of the minimum possible force and appealed to the town hall, governed by the PP party, to address the social emergency.

Social groups have criticised the act, stating that the evicted people have nowhere to go. For this reason, they have demanded a housing solution from Badalona town hall. "As I promised, the eviction of the 400 squatters in B9 has begun," mayor Xavier García Albiol announced on Wednesday morning. The town hall plans to demolish the building to build a police station.