‘This looks like a disaster zone’, I heard a tourist mutter under her breath as she carted her suitcases out of the arrivals hall.
The holidaymaker had just arrived at Madrid-Barajas airport, where up to 500 homeless people are living in a so-called ‘hidden city’.
And it’s where I spent the night last week, tasked with discovering just how serious the situation has become.
While rough sleepers are nothing new at the travel hub, their numbers over the past 10 years have ballooned from around 50 to almost 500.
And a recent decision to move them all to the same area has seen them forced to live in close quarters in Terminal 4.
In fact, the whole of the first floor has been cordoned off for the ‘unauthorised occupants’, as the authorities call them.
Upon arriving, I was unaware of this, and accidentally took the stairs that led directly into the heart of the ‘main street’, where dozens of men and women are lined up in their sleeping bags.
One man in a grey tracksuit yelled at me: ‘Are you recording me? You better not be recording me’ (I was not).
I shuffled down the hallway towards a group of police officers, who were giving me an odd look.
After explaining I was a journalist, one tells me: ‘Well please step outside this area, this is not a fun place to be, you shouldn’t be down there.’
The Policia Nacional were checking the documents of the ‘residents’, with one later explaining they do so every three to four days in a bid to weed out wanted criminals.
While many occupants ‘live’ in the newly-designated area on the first floor, I saw how, in reality, they slept on every level of the terminal – including next to toilet entrances, behind the flight display screens and at restaurant tables.
Madrid-Barajas is the largest airport in Spain and manages more than 65 million passengers each year, including hundreds of thousands of Brits.
But the situation is so overwhelming for staff that they are considering filing complaints with the Ministry of Labour, citing the ‘more than obvious risk’ to their wellbeing, reports Spanish paper El Debate.
According to Spanish reports, some of the occupants have been found carrying knives, machetes and other homemade weapons, while crack and other drug use – and even prostitution – are reportedly common.
While I did not witness any of that, Fernando, from Peru, who has been living at Terminal 4 for several months, told me there are a certainly a few bandits operating there.
He moved to Spain two years ago in search of a better life, but ended up on the streets when work as a removal man dried up and he couldn’t afford his rent.
‘You have to sleep with one eye open,’ he told me.
‘There are some bad eggs here who will rob you while you sleep, they usually come out at 3am, they’ll take your phone, cigarettes, or whatever they can grab.’
Fernando insisted ‘we are not all bad’, but admitted there were a ‘bad few’ who are creating negative media attention.
He pointed to a puddle of urine on the floor, which he said was not an uncommon sight.
‘Some of them just drink all day and get themselves into a state, they are peeing and going to the toilet where they sleep, off their heads,’ he said.
He said many people have been living there for years, and that they go out during the day and work odd jobs for cash.
‘Then come back with alcohol and get drunk on whiskey and rum,’ he said.
‘The police come every three or four days and check people’s papers and ask some of them to leave – they are checking for people who have criminal records or are wanted by police.’
Fernando says he does not know what the solution is but knows the airport is a ‘life saver’ for many as it provides a much safer environment than the streets.
He said there are people ‘from all over’ living here, including Europe.
One sleeping occupant was seen wearing a US Army uniform, while another, clearly intoxicated, was shouting gibberish in English.
As the night turned into the wee hours, police officers and security guards donned face masks while patrolling the areas on three-wheeled segways.
Skirmishes between the occupants were frequent, with multiple clearly intoxicated.
At one point, I see a man shove a security guard. He is swiftly escorted back to his sleeping station.
In a statement last week, the UGT trade union demanded ‘an urgent, coordinated, and effective response that guarantees both workplace and public safety, as well as dignified care for the affected group.’
It read: ‘Workers are exposed to dangerous situations in an environment that has not been designed or prepared for this type of problem.
‘Travelers themselves, unaware of this situation, are also suffering the consequences, facing an environment of insecurity unbecoming of a key infrastructure for the country.’
It blasted authorities for failing to tackle the issue, ‘neither Aena, nor the Community of Madrid, nor the Madrid City Council, whose mayor has classified these people as ‘political refugees,’ it fumed.
It said those living at the airport are referred to as ‘unauthorised occupants’ and are ‘people with very diverse profiles: without financial resources, with mental disorders, alcohol or drug addiction problems.’
The ASEA trade union has called for a series of bans in public areas of the airport, including ‘staying overnight, residing, wandering around, or using passenger rest areas’ without flight documentation.
But Gaspar Garcia, an NGO worker who has been feeding the homeless at the airport for years, blamed the airport’s relocation of the occupants as being behind a surge in incidents.
‘The current situation of the homeless at Barajas Airport is tougher than ever,’ he told RTVE.
‘Instead of seeking housing or inclusion solutions, they have decided to relocate them to a very specific area – on the first floor of Terminal 4 – without basic conditions: no cleanliness, no security, no opportunity for real rest.’
Garcia is head of the Despega project at the Bokatas NGO.
He accused several media outlets of ‘exploiting’ the tensions between the homeless ‘to criminalise them.’
He also said authorities have been purposefully making life for the homeless more difficult in the hopes they will leave the airport.
He said: ‘Benches and electrical outlets have been removed, sleeping hours have been limited… they’ve even prohibited us from bringing food from organisations like Bokatas, which was one of the few things they had left. It’s a strategy of attrition, to force them to leave the airport without giving them any alternative.’
Meanwhile, a blame game continues to engulf the different governing bodies.
President of the Madrid region, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, this week warned of an ‘international buzz’ surrounding the crisis.
According to respected Spanish daily El Mundo, the regional government fears airlines and countries like the UK will begin warning tourists about the risks they are exposed to at Barajas Airport.
Laura Martinez Cerro, Director General of Tourism and Hospitality for Madrid, told the newspaper: ‘The situation at Barajas Airport could harm the tourist image of the Community of Madrid, eroding the perception of security so valued by visitors and to which so much effort is put.’
The airport technically falls under the administration of Madrid City Council, but the regional government of the Community of Madrid admits it is affected by the ongoing incidents – and is also blaming the national government for ‘not doing enough’.
‘We’re going to try to do whatever it takes,’ Madrid President Ayuso said this week.
‘As long as there’s even one person sleeping on the floor of the airport due to this situation, we can’t stand idly by and think this situation is over.’
However, Ayuso said the national government, led by Socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez, could be doing more.
‘These are Aena facilities,’ the conservative leader said, blasting Sanchez’s ‘blatant refusal to act’ with ‘all necessary means’.
Aena, the authority that manages most of Spain’s airports, is state-owned.
‘It’s an inhumane situation for these people, and certainly Madrid and Spain as a whole don’t deserve that image,’ she added.
The Spanish Eye has contacted Aena, Madrid City Council and the government of Spain for comment.
