Barcelona dismantles Zona Franca settlement due to rat infestation
The 175 residents set up their shops a few meters further on or near the coastal ring road, with no other alternative.
BarcelonaOn Monday afternoon, knowing what would happen early the next morning, several people packed up their tents and set them up a few meters away before the "temporary" eviction of the 175 people living in squalid conditions in the encampment located on number 2 Street in the Zona Franca, the largest in Barcelona, could be carried out. The City Council and the Zona Franca Consortium justify the action as a hygiene measure, following the detection of a rat infestation, which jeopardizes the health of the residents themselves and the safety of nearby businesses. Therefore, once the residents were evicted, the area was sprayed with various chemicals, and they were warned that they would not be allowed to return for a few days.
Barcelona City Council's Commissioner for Social Services, Sònia Fuertes, has insisted that these people have not been expelled from the settlement under any circumstances and that "where they sleep is not being questioned." In fact, they have been allowed to pitch their tents a few meters further away, outside the toxic waste site.
This section of number 2 street, next to the port, has recently attracted people evicted from other cleared settlements, such as those at the North Station or Parc Miró, in operations that the Arrels Foundation considers "disguised evictions" which, as in the Zona Franca, only complicate people's lives. "They're not going to disappear in the end," stressed Eva Hobeich, head of the Arrels Foundation's legal team. In this regard, Ferran Arméstar, a volunteer with Health Without Borders, frames the Jaume Collboni government's actions within the current strategy followed by administrations of "linking poverty and degradation with public space."
Municipal sources maintain that social workers have been working in this settlement since 2023, to the point that most of the residents, between 135 and 150 people, have some kind of connection to social services. They also point out the complexity of the work due to the high mobility of this group: half of the residents move around. The director of the Barcelona Center for Social Emergencies and Urgent Care (CUESB), Maribel del Moral, specified that they have assisted eight people, seven of whom "had no connection to any services," and she did not rule out providing some "one-off" shelters, depending on the vulnerability of each case. Del Moral reported that of the majority of homeless people who were there, some are now at the Zona Franca shelter, as well as at other social service centers. Edwin Segura, one of the residents of the settlement, told ACN that it's a lie that the reason for the eviction is rats because the infestation has been going on for a long time. He explained that he and some other residents moved to some land near the Ronda del Litoral, about 500 meters away. "Where should we go? Because wherever we go, they'll kick us out," he complained. He asked for a roof over his head so he wouldn't get wet.
Since January, this social and health work has intensified with the help of the Red Cross, as well as with specific municipal services for homeless groups, which include soup kitchens and first-response centers. Ten are following a work plan to test their integration into the labor market. For Arméstar, the operation was not aimed at ensuring the safety of homeless people but rather "the industries and the area" affected, because there is no consistent plan to provide them with an alternative to the streets and the services offered last "only a few days." Along with social workers, the operation also included officers from the Guardia Urbana (Barcelona's municipal police) and the National Police's immigration unit was added, given that the majority of the people are undocumented immigrants from outside the EU. Thus, the operation resulted in 75 identifications, but no arrests, according to the chief superintendent of the Guardia Urbana in Sants-Montjuïc, Noelia López.
The operation was carried out by the Barcelona City Police with the collaboration of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police) and the National Police, the latter having jurisdiction over immigration matters. Staff from the Barcelona Social Emergency and Urgent Care Center (CUESB) were also present in case they found any previously undetected vulnerable individuals. Furthermore, municipal sources admit that they will not be offering immediate alternative housing. Once the operation was completed, the area was cordoned off and signage was installed to warn of the presence of chemical products.