Vic has exceeded the 50,000 inhabitants threshold for the first time. It has gained 20,000 in the last thirty years, representing an approximate increase of 66%, double the Catalan average in the same period. The region's omnipresent agri-food industry, especially the meat sector, is a magnet for foreign labor, which already accounts for 30% of the population, more than half of whom are of African origin.
In this scenario, the mayor of Vic, Albert Castells, has sounded an alarm, labeling the situation a "sociodemographic emergency." The 2010 POUM is a distant memory, when the City Council boasted of wanting to reach 80,000 inhabitants under the mandate of Josep Maria Vila d'Abadal. Faced with an ever-increasing trend, the Junts mayor tirelessly repeats that "services have collapsed" and blames immigration for it. "We have many young people who will not be able to prosper and elderly people whom we cannot attend to because we have to focus on the massive arrival of uncontrolled people," he said in an interview with SER Catalunya that caused a great stir.
President Salvador Illa, who met with Castells after his call, did not mince words at an event before the top brass of the meat sector in Gurb two weeks ago. He appealed to their responsibility to contribute to social cohesion and move the country forward. "You cannot build an economy or a country where people, while working, cannot afford a roof over their heads," he stated, and called for offering the "same obligations and rights" to newcomers, referring to the regularization process that is underway.
Illa, before the meat sector's general staff a few weeks ago in Gurb.ACN
The fact is that this growth has not been accompanied by an improvement in services and this feeling of being overwhelmed has been taken advantage of by the far-right, which caused Aliança Catalana (AC) to become the fourth force with 8.57% of the votes in the last Catalan elections. "The regional councillor for Welcoming has said that Vic is not prepared to process 8,000 applications from irregular immigrants, but they are pushing ahead anyway. A reckless act done lightly that we "vigatanos" will end up paying for," they denounce from the core of Aliança, which will most likely place the former number 2 of Ara Vic, Elisenda Carrera, who has left the party and is a non-attached councillor, as the mayoral candidate.
Despite the fact that crimes have decreased by 7% in 2025, the Islamophobic party amplifies any incident to emphasize that they are not just "perceptions". "The current system is a sieve that brings crime and insecurity," they state from Aliança, and they urge for a firm hand. "The "vigatanos" should not live in fear of being the next to suffer a robbery," they justify to demand zero tolerance. Josep Anglada has been making this same discourse for two decades, who landed in the City Council in 2003 with Plataforma per Catalunya (PxC) and who now remains as the leader of Som Identitaris (SOMI).
"They used to call me racist and now the mayor says it and nothing happens"
"I've been saying for a long time that we don't all fit here and they called me racist, and now the mayor says it and nothing happens," snaps the xenophobic leader, who is in favor of expelling all those who are in an irregular situation "as the immigration law establishes". Anglada doesn't mince words when pointing out that Junts is to blame for this growth: "It is the responsibility of the last 23 years of convergent governments and now they want to rectify a problem they created themselves". In any case, he admits that there are the same services as thirty years ago.
The CUP, located at the other extreme, makes the same diagnosis. "It is a biased, reckless, racist and classist discourse, because if you defend a growth model of 15,000 people, and on the other hand you don't open any new high school or primary care center, nor do you invest in housing, it makes no sense whatsoever," denounces the CUP member Carla Dinarès. "You approved the growth, what bothers you is that poor immigrants are coming in," she reiterates after recalling that the government did not want to approve the construction of the fourth nursery. "If you do nothing, the city collapses due to the executive's inaction," adds Dinarès.
Plaça Major, the epicentre of Vic.Francesc Melcion
Clara Cusó, from the PAH and Padró per a Totes, also blames the political and economic powers for the situation. "We cannot talk about collapse when the meat industry needs cheap labor and you don't do urban planning," criticizes the activist, who assures that obstacles are being placed on the schooling of children and on registration to prolong the process and make them give up, which they will not do because they work here. "Neither public housing has been built nor have vulture fund apartments been acquired, only a housing cooperative which is for people with certain resources," she laments.
![Illa, before the meat sector's general staff a few weeks ago in Gurb.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 5701 3760"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Plaça Major, the epicentre of Vic.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4230 2820"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Xavi Farrés, with other members of the Ara Vic executive board](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 9"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
