It’s the kind of disturbing footage you would expect to see in a fentanyl-ravaged neighbourhood in the United States.
A woman, extremely hunched over, shuffles along at a snail’s pace while her long black hair drapes towards the ground.
However, this is not San Francisco or Philadelphia; it is Madrid-Barajas airport in Spain. Over the past decade, a ‘hidden city’ of homeless individuals has grown significantly.
The number of ‘unauthorised occupants’ – as they are called by the authorities – at the airport has gone from around 50 to almost 500.
While homeless people seeking shelter at the airport is not a new phenomenon, there has been a recent increase in reported incidents of violence and drug-related activities within this community. This surge has become a concern for tourism officials who worry that potential visitors might be deterred from traveling to the capital city.
This month, state-owned airport authority Aena was forced to fumigate several zones amid fears of a bed bug outbreak.
Madrid-Barajas is the largest airport in Spain and manages more than 65 million passengers each year, including hundreds of thousands of Brits.
Visitors arriving at the airport were taken aback by the situation, with one person overheard saying, ‘It seems like a disaster area.’
Pictures and footage taken by MailOnline show dozens of men and women sprawled out on the floor of Terminal 4, the epicentre of the crisis.
The ‘occupants’ are seen sleeping on every level of the terminal and in any spot they can find, including next to toilet entrances, behind the flight display screens and at restaurant tables.
It 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.
Terminal 4 is where the majority of the homeless live after they were relocated there by the authorities, having previously been spread across all of the airport’s four terminals.
Fernando, from Peru, has been living at Terminal 4 for several months.
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 definitely have to sleep with one eye open,’ he told MailOnline while puffing on a cigarette just outside the arrivals hall.
‘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.
‘I sleep in the corner, there is a group of us calm South Americans who look after one another, it can get quite dangerous.
‘A lot of the people are working for cash during the day in the black economy, then come back with alcohol and get drunk on whiskey and rum. Many have been living here for years.
‘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.
A Spanish occupant was seen covered in bite marks, believed to be from bed bugs.
Up to a dozen officers from the National Police were seen checking people’s papers along the ‘main street’ of the ‘homeless city’, which runs across a hallway by the elevators on the first floor.
‘It’s not a good time, you don’t want to be walking through here,’ one officer told MailOnline.
Two security workers told this paper that they are ‘not allowed’ to speak out on the issue, but that if they could ‘boy, we could tell you some things.’
At night, National Police officers are seen donning face masks while patrolling the areas on three-wheeled segways.
Fights between the occupants are rife. One clearly intoxicated occupant was seen shoving a security guard during the night that MailOnline visited the airport. He was swiftly escorted back to his sleeping area.
In a statement this 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 this week.
‘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.
MailOnline has contacted Aena, Madrid City Council and the government of Spain for comment.
