Agencia What's Happening in Mataró, the City with 70% More Squatters than the Catalan Average
The Cerdanyola neighborhood has a 25% immigrant population, and residents have been reporting its deterioration for years
Mataró experienced another night of street violence this Monday with attacks on the police and burning containers. What is happening in this city is not isolated. Radical organizations, with the complicity of political parties and media, have been whitewashing violence and legitimizing squatting for some time.
However, what is happening can't be understood without the specific context of Mataró, a city that has long faced serious security problems. In fact, the capital of Maresme is a reflection of the degradation process of the entire region. A high concentration of immigration combined with a rise in crime and the latent phenomenon of squatting.
Police unions warned after the riots in Salt that it was only the prelude. Time is proving them right. Mataró is an example of the reality that many other Catalan cities are experiencing.
What's Happening in Mataró
It all started last week when the Mossos d'Esquadra arrested a foreigner who was trying to squat in an apartment in the Cerdanyola neighborhood. The arrest provoked a reaction from other foreigners and pro-squatting activists. There were clashes with the police, burning of containers, and destruction of urban furniture.
The municipal government, held by the PSC, deployed a permanent police operation to keep the peace in the neighborhood. But the riots have continued. This Monday was especially problematic, with about sixty organized youths burning the streets and throwing objects at the police and firefighters.
The disturbances started precisely after an open assembly of the Sindicat de l'Habitatge, which blames the police for the violence. They keep that the problem is not squatting but the housing issue and evictions. Authorities are trying to keep order, but they fear this is just the beginning.
A Neighborhood with 25% Immigration
Cerdanyola is the ground zero of the unstoppable degradation that the city and the region are suffering. This neighborhood has 25% immigrant population (7,996 foreigners), double that of Rocafonda, which has 4,157 foreigners (18%). The neighborhood far exceeds the percentage of foreign population in Mataró, which is close to 17%.
This neighborhood, which is also the most populated in Mataró, has been suffering an accelerated degradation process for years. Segregation and the creation of pockets of poverty have increased crime, insecurity, and incivility rates. Residents have been denouncing the situation for years, waiting for a rehabilitation plan that has yet to arrive.
70% More Squatting Than the Average
The middle and upper classes have been leaving the neighborhood in parallel with the arrival of people with very low incomes and a high unemployment rate. Over the years, counter-communities have been created, opening a space of impunity for crime. The reflection of this new reality is the alarming proliferation of squatting.
The squatting problem actually affects all of Mataró, which is the second comarca capital with the most break-ins (only behind Figueres). The capital of Maresme records 760 break-ins per 100,000 inhabitants, which represents 70% more than the Catalan average.
The problem led the PSC government to copy Albiol's model in Badalona, with the creation of an anti-squatting office. But it has also paved the way for the growth of radical unions and anti-system groups. This has been creating a breeding ground that has ended up exploding with the disturbances of these last nights.
Vox and PP Triumph
The presence of anti-system groups contrasts with the rather meager representation in these neighborhoods of the parties they represent. The CUP and the Comuns barely have representation, while Vox and PP triumph. In the last elections, Vox was the second force and PP the third in 8 of the 12 districts of Mataró.
The rise of these parties is precisely related to the extreme situation that the residents of these neighborhoods are experiencing. They are citizens who have to face insecurity and coexistence problems caused by squatting daily. Meanwhile, they see how left-wing parties deny this reality and stigmatize those who denounce it.
Vox, which had no municipal representation, obtained four councilors in 2023 thanks to an effective campaign against crime. The PP also entered with two deputies. The PSC now faces the challenge of pacifying Cerdanyola and rehabilitating this and other neighborhoods.
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