Police on Wednesday began clearing the former B9 school in Badalona, site of Catalonia’s largest migrant squat, after a court order set a 15‑day deadline for eviction.
At 7 a.m., a large deployment of local police, Mossos d’Esquadra and the National Police entered the building, where more than 400 people — mostly migrants from sub‑Saharan Africa — had lived for over two years.
Many residents had already left in recent days, but most remained until the final hours, gathering belongings under police supervision.
Protests organized by support groups and last‑minute legal appeals failed to halt the eviction, authorized Dec. 4 at the request of the Badalona city council. Mayor Xavier García Albiol of the conservative Popular Party had long pressed for the clearance, arguing the squat was linked to crime and insecurity.