Following their eviction from Badalona's B9 institute and prior shelter under the C-31 highway, sub-Saharan migrants have occupied the closed Can Bofí Vell municipal shelter. Meanwhile, locals blocked housing for 15 others in a parish, heightening the crisis as Mayor Xavier García Albiol faces backlash.
After spending nights under the C-31 highway amid heavy rains, about 15 evicted sub-Saharan migrants from the B9 institute—cleared on December 18—occupied Can Bofí Vell, a municipal homeless shelter shuttered by Mayor Xavier García Albiol (PP) in May 2024. Police identified the group Sunday evening but held off on eviction.
Catalan Social Rights counselor Mònica Martínez Bravo had urged Albiol to reopen the 50-person facility. Instead, many evictees had previously camped in squares or under bridges. The occupants penned a letter to President Salvador Illa, lamenting inter-administration disputes and pleading: 'Catalonia is a welcoming land. So why are we mistreated this way?'.
Tensions escalated Sunday when ~200 neighbors in Sant Crist rallied outside Mare de Déu de Montserrat parish, chanting racist slogans and halting Red Cross and Cáritas supplies for 15 vulnerable migrants. Albiol mediated but failed to resolve the standoff, proposing alternatives via Social Rights talks.
Aid groups like Cáritas, Sant Joan de Déu, and Fundació Llegat Roca i Pi continue coordinating: housing five in guesthouses for a month and daytime center access. The saga underscores Badalona's migrant reception strains post-B9 eviction.
