Violent Clashes Erupt During Vitoria Eviction After Five-Year Legal Battle

A controversial eviction in the northern Spanish city of Vitoria-Gasteiz sparked intense clashes on Friday between regional police and hundreds of demonstrators, resulting in four arrests and several injuries. The operation in the Sansomendi neighborhood brought an end to a five-year legal battle over a residential property.

The evicted household, consisting of a couple and six minor children, had occupied the apartment on Huetos Avenue since a rental dispute began in 2021. The property owner, who has also been officially declared socially and economically vulnerable, spent the protracted legal process living in a rented room with his pregnant wife and young child while continuing to pay his mortgage.

The eviction operation commenced at 9:00 a.m. as officers from the regional police force, the Ertzaintza, deployed to the area. Over the course of five hours, more than three hundred demonstrators, many of them teenagers and supporters of a local housing union, threw stones and bottles at police lines. Officers utilized specialized mobile units to break through human barricades and eventually forced entry into the second-story apartment by 1:00 p.m., deploying foam launchers to control the crowds.

Municipal authorities defended the execution of the court-ordered eviction while detailing the extensive public assistance the affected family has received. According to a municipal report, the household draws over 2,400 euros monthly from various public programs, including minimum vital income, housing allowances, and food bank support. Officials noted that the family's financial aid was temporarily adjusted following a 38-day trip to their country of origin last summer.

The Vitoria City Council, led by an administration composed of the Socialist Party and the Basque Nationalist Party, stated that social services had offered the family a provisional emergency housing placement. However, the local government confirmed that the offer was rejected, noting that the municipality does not possess vacant public housing units for direct allocation.

Local housing advocates strongly criticized the municipal government for proceeding with the eviction without securing a permanent housing solution. Conversely, authorities emphasized that the landlord's right to reclaim his property for personal use was validated by judicial rulings, taking into account his own precarious living conditions throughout the lengthy dispute.