Immigration management is at the heart of Catalan and Spanish politics, in a debate shaped by the rise of the far-right Aliança Catalana and Vox parties. The King of Spain also plays a significant role, both in his institutional capacity and as the apparent arbiter he seeks to become after taking sides throughout the independence process. Felipe VI arrived in Catalonia on Monday to commemorate the centenary of Hospitalet de Llobregat being granted city status. From there, he sought to highlight the past waves of migration from the rest of Spain during the Franco regime, as well as the more recent influxes from Africa and Latin America, while denouncing "sectarianism." Around a hundred members of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and anti-monarchy protesters demonstrated against the visit, while a hundred or so monarchists participated in the carefully controlled welcome and greetings.

At around 5:30 p.m. this Wednesday, firefighters managed to stop the gas leak that had been operating on Nazaret Street in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat since this morning. The leak was detected at the intersection of three high-, medium-, and low-voltage pipelines. Shortly before stopping the leak, firefighters had warned that the situation was "very dangerous" because the leak had been active for more than six hours. Around 8:00 p.m., the situation improved, and firefighters declared the leak under control. Furthermore, the mayor of Hospitalet, David Quirós, confirmed that most of the 500 residents who had to be evacuated will be able to return home tonight, with the exception of ten families who will be able to do so tomorrow.

The former PSC councillors in Hospitalet de Llobregat, Cristian Alcázar and Cris Plaza, have accepted a nine-month prison sentence for the crimes of misappropriation and against Social Security. Both Alcázar, who was deputy mayor and also leader of the PSC in the city, and Plaza were to sit in the dock this Tuesday in the Barcelona Court for the case of the fraudulent liquidation of the salary that the latter received when he left the position he occupied in the Consell Esportiu. Finally, they have reached an agreement with the Public Prosecutor's Office - which requested four and a half years in prison for both - and with the popular accusation exercised by the commons, which demanded six years and added the crime of embezzlement.

Shirley Medina will be able to stay one more week in the two rooms in the Gavà hostel that she has occupied with her four minor children since just before Christmas: one 16 years old, two five-year-old twins and one two-year-old. Registered in Hospitalet de Llobregat, the social services of this municipality moved the family to this space to get them out of the storage room that an acquaintance had left them. Initially they were to leave this Thursday, but finally, and in added time, the council has announced at the last minute that it is "extending" their stay until the next visit with the social worker. Still unaware that he had an extension, Medina sits on the bed of his eldest son and explains that he has no other alternative roof and that the only solution he has is the street. "I don't want my children to live in the open, they can't live in the street, children," he says.

"When he is assigned a computer, he says he is afraid of being robbed because he lives on the street," explains Víctor Langreo, a vocational training teacher at the Institut Llobregat in L'Hospitalet. He is talking about Mohammed, 22, one of his students. "He had been living under a bridge for a week," Langreo continues. Despite his difficult situation, in class he was "studious" and "correct" and learned quickly. He arrived in Catalonia in 2022 from Morocco. He managed to get to Turkey alone, and from what he explained to the teachers, he made the journey "on foot" to Catalonia. He has lived in a caravan, on the street... A few weeks ago, the teachers learned about his harsh reality and opened a fund to pay for the room in which he now sleeps. But in five days he must leave it and will be on the street again.

L'Hospitalet de Llobregat's Court of Instruction number 2 has closed the investigation into the city's mayor, Núria Marín, El Periódico has reported and ARA has confirmed. She was accused of diverting funds from the local Sports Council, but the judge has accepted the Prosecutor's Office's request admitting there is insufficient evidence. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office had already asked the court to dismiss the case because it had found no proof Marín may have acted illegally.

Yesterday, officers from the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit of the National Police (UDEF) searched the headquarters of the Department of Sports in Cornellà City Council of Cornellà and the headquarters of the Consell Esportiu del Baix Llobregat in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, investigating allegations of corruption, as advanced by SER and confirmed by ARA. According to police and court sources, the arrests stem from the Consell Esportiu de l'Hospitalet case, which affects mayor Núria Marín and former Generalitat Secretary of Sports Gerard Figueras. So far the police have arrested at least five people, including Salvador Valls, head of the council's Sports area and former manager of the Consell Esportiu del Baix Llobregat, as ARA has learned.