La Seu d'Urgell Evacuates Occupied Building After Five Years

The Seu d'Urgell municipal government carried out the evacuation of a 15-apartment building on Carrer de la Salle on Monday morning, ending an occupation that had lasted more than five years. The operation proceeded peacefully and without incident, according to a statement from the city council, with coordination among Social Services, the Municipal Technical Office, the local police and the Mossos d'Esquadra.

The intervention was grounded in safety concerns after municipal technical staff identified risks to people, including tampered electrical panels and water connections that mixed supplies unsafely, as well as serious structural deficiencies and damaged common areas, elevator and parking facilities. The building had also accumulated numerous complaints from neighbours, police operations related to drug trafficking and ongoing disturbances near nearby facilities including a primary care centre and the La Salle school.

Mayor Joan Barrera defended the action, saying the building had been a focal point for coexistence and public safety problems. "In La Seu we cannot normalise situations that put people's safety at risk and damage the coexistence of our city," he said. "We acted with determination, with the corresponding guarantees and with special attention to families in vulnerable situations. Safety and people's dignity must always go hand in hand."

As a priority, the council arranged temporary relocation for eight family units—ranging from individuals living alone to larger households—who held a social vulnerability report or a rental contract. With support from Social Services, they were placed in different locations across the city. The remaining occupants also left the building during the evacuation.

Immediate work now focuses on sealing accesses with brick to prevent new entries, securing electrical and water connections, and repairing common areas. The local police and Mossos d'Esquadra will maintain coordinated preventive surveillance to preserve coexistence and prevent uncivil behaviour elsewhere in the municipality.

The council singled out the lack of effective action by Sareb (the Asset Management Company for Assets Arising from Bank Restructuring), which owns most of the apartments, as a contributing factor in prolonging the situation. It criticised the company's "negligence" and said that despite judicial proceedings initiated by the property owner, the evictions had not been completed based on the information available to the council. Given the confirmed risks, the council pursued the intervention through administrative litigation.

The situation had caused concern among residents and around nearby facilities such as the La Salle school and the primary care centre (CAP). Barrera added that neighbours "had to live for too long with a situation that was not acceptable," describing the operation as an important step toward restoring the tranquillity they deserve.

The council has said it intends to seek reimbursement from the property owner, through the appropriate procedures, for the security costs the municipal administration has had to assume.