HIBAPRESS – Barcelona: Omar Razzini
In a scene reflecting the extent of administrative and humanitarian failure, the local police in the city of Badalona, near Barcelona, evicted a migrant who had tried to take shelter inside a building under construction to escape homelessness and the cold. This incident raises serious questions about the role of local authorities and their inability to find real solutions to the housing and immigration crisis.
The migrant, who had no option but an unfinished building to protect him from the street, was not met with assistance or guidance towards shelters. Instead, he was met with eviction and exclusion, as if he were a criminal, at a time when the responsible authorities are maintaining a suspicious silence regarding the worsening conditions of migrants and the homeless. This incident is not an exception but part of a long series of hasty decisions and superficial treatments adopted by local authorities, who are content with evacuating places and expelling the vulnerable instead of addressing the root of the problem: the absence of social housing, the lack of reception centers, and the lack of integration programs. Where are the officials? And where are the election campaign promises? How can it be conceivable that budgets are spent on superficial projects while people are left on the streets? How is the police allowed to be an instrument of eviction only, instead of being a bridge for protection and guidance? What happened in Badalona clearly reveals that the officials have chosen the easiest path: hiding the problem instead of solving it. Evicting the migrant from the building does not end his suffering, but returns him to the sidewalks and deepens the sense of injustice and marginalization. This futile policy will only lead to more social tension and more human tragedies. Local and regional authorities must assume their full responsibilities, and stop dealing with poverty and immigration with a narrow security logic, and begin immediately to develop real solutions that preserve human dignity above all else.
