By Alessio Ghirlanda in Madrid
TENSIONS have exploded in a north Madrid neighbourhood after fed-up residents confronted a violent gang of squatters over the weekend – culminating in 14 arrests and heavy police deployment.
Locals in the Barajas district, near the city’s airport, set up round-the-clock patrols outside a disused office block on Calle Trespaderne, which has been illegally occupied for the past five months.
It followed a terrifying incident on Friday when squatters allegedly hurled shards of broken glass at passersby, prompting emergency calls and a swift response from riot police.
Over the weekend, more than 50 officers were deployed to the area. Two squatters were arrested on Friday, another two on Saturday, and a further 10 on Sunday – several reportedly found carrying makeshift weapons, including shivs and sharpened wooden stakes.
Residents say the group has been wreaking havoc since taking over the long-abandoned building.
“We cannot take it anymore,” one neighbour told the Olive Press.
“This used to be a safe, family-friendly area. Now we’re scared to go out. Our children are prisoners in their own homes.”
Locals report a spate of serious crimes linked to the squatters, including assaults, thefts, threats, and arson.
In one chilling incident, a man allegedly tried to drag a young girl into the building – but she managed to escape.
Another neighbour described a terrifying altercation in which a squatter smashed a glass bottle over a young man’s arm ‘just for looking the wrong way’ at his girlfriend.
An elderly woman, who has lived in the area for 65 years, said the situation is beyond desperate:
“We can’t even hang our clothes outside anymore – they just steal them.
They even tried robbing the local chemist and shouted at the pharmacist when he refused to give them drugs.”
With confidence in local authorities wearing thin, residents have launched their own DIY security patrols, supplementing police presence with rotating neighbourhood watch shifts.
A protest has been organised for today (Tuesday) at 7pm, but there are growing fears of escalation after the squatters reportedly called in reinforcements from a nearby occupied hotel.
“This will be a peaceful protest,” one organiser said.
“But we are ready to keep up the pickets for as long as it takes.”
The Trespaderne building had been empty for over 15 years before the occupation, with residents blaming the crisis on years of institutional neglect.
“This problem could’ve been avoided,” said an airport worker who has lived in the district for four decades.
“That building was raised again and again in council meetings. Nothing was ever done.”
Estimates suggest around 50 squatters now live in the block – but locals insist only a handful are responsible for the violence and intimidation.
“Some genuinely have nowhere else to go,” one resident admitted.
“But they’re being taken advantage of. We’ve even heard some are being charged rent by the more aggressive squatters.”
Locals are now pleading for urgent intervention from the authorities before the crisis spirals further out of control.
“We need help – proper help,” another neighbour said.
“If the institutions don’t step in, this will never end.”
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Idiotic rule that squatyersncan take your house. The government is not protecting anyone. I am amazed that this even exists.
It’s unfortunate that the Olive Press doesn’t report an important part of the story—the ethnicity or the background of the squatters. Maybe there’s nothing to report. But if indeed there’s a story to tell, then suppressing facts only invites a much larger problem.
Nobody understands this like people of the UK.
Why is this important ?