"If it were up to me, I'd swim him back to Morocco": Albiol, reported for hate crime

BarcelonaThe collective of lawyers for the defense of human rights Irídia has reported the mayor of Badalona, Xavier García Albiol, for an alleged hate crime in a publication this week on social networks. The popular politician shared the photo of a handcuffed young man who, as he himself explained, had tried to rob a woman by snatching her bag, and called him "human scum". He added that he wanted to "send him back swimming to Morocco".

Irídia has asked the Prosecutor's Office to open an investigation urgently and warns that these are "very serious facts, as they seek to incite hatred against a group" because of their nationality. They add that the dissemination of this type of message "is very dangerous and, as has been seen on other occasions, can be the prelude to serious outbreaks of violence".

According to Albiol's same publication, one of his bodyguards from the local police in Badalona allegedly arrested the young man and photographed him handcuffed in the back of a car. Irídia denounces that Albiol, "assuming the agent's version as true and with total disregard for the right to the presumption of innocence," published the photo showing the detainee's face, pointed out his nationality, and also attributed a robbery with violence offense to him. All this accompanied by comments in which he lamented not being able to send him back "swimming" to Morocco and calling him "human scum" and "scoundrel".

In just one day, the Instagram post achieved more than 67,000 likes and more than 5,800 comments, many against the young man. The message reached "probably hundreds of thousands of people," adds Irídia in the complaint she has filed with the Prosecutor's Office for Hate Crimes. In fact, by Friday morning the numbers had multiplied: it already has 189,000 "likes" and more than 40,000 comments. Albiol published an identical post on X, which by Friday morning had accumulated 1.5 million views, 38,500 "likes" and 8,500 reposts.

According to various sources, the possibilities for complaint in cases like this include a complaint by the person involved if they see their right to their own image violated —in this case, the young man in the photo— or, through criminal proceedings, a complaint for slander that the detainee could also file, or, the most forceful, a complaint for hate crime, which is what Irídia has filed, although the same sources point out that it is difficult to prove because it must be extrapolated that the message refers to an entire community.

A history full of controversies

This is just the latest controversy Albiol is involved in, and one more complaint for the collection, even though most end up being dismissed. For the eviction of the B9 building, affecting 400 people —whom he broadly linked to crime and said that the people of Badalona did not want them—, a complaint from Comuns arrived and the Prosecutor's Office also investigated him, although the judge in charge ended up dismissing the case.

Precisely, tweets on the X network are usually the origin of his controversies. In January of last year, he pointed out "a savage" arrested 19 times when he wanted to occupy an apartment: "What they don't dare to do in Cameroon, they do here. I hope he is deported to his country." In August two years ago, he pointed out Moroccan immigrants arriving by ferry from Ibiza "with a phone, sunglasses, and in good health," implying that they arrive on the Peninsula to commit crimes.

A judge charged Albiol last March for having revealed the medical data of a homeless person during a plenary session when he read the diagnosis and the tests they had performed. In 2024, he proudly showed that his son recorded alleged pickpockets and uploaded the video to social media.

In the 2011 campaign, controversy arose over the electoral leaflet, which included a photograph with the racist graffiti "Romanians out" on a facade, for which he ended up going to trial. He was acquitted two years later. In court, he admitted to having made "inappropriate" remarks against Romanian Roma, about whom he had said in 2010 that "the Romanian Roma collective has settled in the city to commit crimes and steal." The 2015 campaign slogan also played on xenophobic imagery: "Cleaning Badalona".