Dozens of people who spend the night at the airport of El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona) were evicted on Tuesday night from both the interior of the building and their vicinity.
The device, as confirmed by various sources, was promoted by AENA for reasons of “security” and “unhealthiness” and was attended by airport security agents, Mossos d’Esquadra and social services technicians of the municipalities of El Prat and Barcelona.
“Aena feels concerned with people who spend the night in our infrastructure, airports are designed as a place of passage, not to structurally offer overnight solutions,” as expressed on Tuesday at a press conference Maurici Lucena.
This device has been given at the doors of the Mobile World Congress, which will attract more than 100,000 visitors to the Catalan capital, most of whom will arrive by plane. Even so, Lucena has denied that the operation had “nothing to do” with the celebration of this event.
As explained by various sources to Eldiario.es, the device consisted of security agents informed people who spend the night at the airport that they could not be there and that they had to look for another place to sleep. The City Council of El Prat has accounted for about 200 people who use the building to spend the night in a recurring manner, but as they have explained people who know the development of the device to eldiario.es, it was evicted to less than 50.
The fact that the intention to carry out this operation in media was published – the information was advanced by born and a few hours before its start – could make many homeless people not go to sleep at the airport Tuesday night, according to entities consulted.
The Mossos d’Esquadra have not confirmed how many people were evicted or fell to give details about the device. On the other hand, they refer to Aena, while it was the one who requested that the action be carried out.
In fact, the Department of Interior confirms to Eldiario.es that the agents only came as “security reinforcement” and wanted to highlight that it is not a police device. On the other hand, “the interaction” with the evicted people was “carried out and led” by airport security agents.
In turn, Aena also declines to make any type of assessment on the device and refers to the social services of the municipalities that were present at the airport during the night. From this part, the Prat sent a social action technician and Barcelona activated a delegation from the Emergency and Social Emergencies Center of Barcelona (CESB), a service that is responsible for the attention to vulnerable people throughout the metropolitan area.
These technicians were present to give “support” and offer alternatives who could need them. But, again, neither of the two administrations is allowed to take stock or confirm how many people were evicted or if someone asked for any derivation.
Known sources of the device development explain to eldiario.es that no need for relocation was detected because the majority of people to whom they were asked to leave the airport went back to the night and ended up spending the night equally there.
According to the initial information, the device was expected to be repeated on Wednesday night, but none of the consistories have received confirmation of this nor have the social agents equipment still mobilized.
An agreement pending renewal
El Prat airport is a place that is used recurrently and for many years as a “safe” place to spend the night, as explained by Arrels, an entity of attention to homeless. “It is a space protected by security personnel and police officers, acts as a climate refuge and is closed, which makes women and old people feel more safe,” explains Beatriz Fernández, president of Arrels.
Now, despite being a known reality for years, the attention to these people is a “mess”, since the powers are divided between the State, the Generalitat, the municipalities of the two cities that host the infrastructure and Aena, the public company that manages it.
Therefore, years ago an agreement was created, led by the Generalitat de Catalunya, which established the powers and the framework of action of social services both of the Government and the Consistories of El Prat and Barcelona. Fruit of this agreement, periodic visits and attention were made to the hundred people sleeping at the airport.
But two years ago this agreement is pending renewal and, since then, “there is no active social service at the airport”, as recognized from the CEA. Thus, the presence of technicians and educators in this infrastructure is limited to specific actions derived from specific devices such as the one that has occurred this morning in the enclosure.
“They are people who need a follow -up that has not been given for a long time,” Fernández laments. “Without accompaniment, they cannot refer themselves or access housing alternatives such as shelters,” he adds.
From Arrels they affirm all the administrations known to the device that will not communicate it to the entities to be able to offer support or be prepared to offer an alternative place to spend the night. Along these lines, they demand a “legal framework” that establishes protocols and competences so that the attention to homeless people “does not depend on the political will of the government on duty.”
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