Official day of mourning following deadly Badalona warehouse fire

Mayor accuses former local administrations of inaction as dismantling work to begin

Demoltion companies assess the charred remains of the Badalona warehouse (by Jordi Pujolar)
Demoltion companies assess the charred remains of the Badalona warehouse (by Jordi Pujolar) / ACN

ACN | Badalona

December 11, 2020 05:26 PM

Friday was an official day of mourning in Catalonia following the Wednesday night warehouse fire in Badalona, north of Barcelona, in which at least three people lost their lives.

The Gorg neighborhood blaze, which broke out in an abandoned industrial unit that groups of undocumented migrants had been living in since 2008, has stirred up the debate concerning responsibility for the tragedy, with People's Party mayor Xavier Garcia Albiol casting blame on previous local administrations under Dolors Sabater and Àlex Pastor.

And while expressing regret for the loss of life, Albiol also argued that nobody should have been living in the warehouse. "Poverty cannot justify illegally occupying a building," he said.

"No action was carried out to try to redirect or resolve the problem faced by those who were in the warehouse as well as their neighbors until my administration came into power," the conservative politician claimed, adding that he had tried to evict the residents on 25 separate occasions.

A Badalona magistrate, however, has contradicted Albiol's assertion. According to judge Josep M. Noales, the Badalona council had not initiated any civil or penal proceedings to attempt to gain access to the warehouse and stated that they had only received a "personal" and "extrajudicial" letter from the mayor.

Work to dismantle the warehouse is set to begin on Friday as the fire completely destabilized the building's structure, making it unsafe for firefighters to enter. Although authorities do not believe the death toll will rise significantly once the building has been taken apart, further casualties have not been ruled out.