"Spanish police blocked a protest confrontation between evicted migrants and residents in Badalona on Monday, after authorities removed hundreds of people taking refuge in a former high school in the northeastern city. Footage shows migrants carrying red flags gathering near a hillside residential area, while locals countered the protest with waving Spanish flags and chanting slogans. Police are also seen forming human barricades between the groups as tensions escalate. Baladona Mayor Xavier Garcia Albiol addressed residents, assuring them that the situation will be resolved. "I am hopeful that we can. And if not, I won't deceive you; I believe we will ultimately get them out. I really do. Let's see. I had thought we would have them out by today already," he stated. One resident, while speaking to Mayor Albiol, called for increased security in the neighborhood. "We need security, more police, more plainclothes officers. Because they are robbing our mothers, our grandmothers, our daughters. Gold chains are being snatched. We've had incidents, just the other day," he said. Albiol promised he would provide updates to residents on 'where things stand', noting the sensitivity of the situation. The protest comes after the clearance of a school building long occupied by migrants, ordered by Badalona Mayor Xavier Garcia Albiol of the conservative People's Party (PP), whose hardline views on migration contrast with the more permissive stance of Spain's leftist government. Albiol said the eviction was necessary to combat illegality and crime, which he has frequently linked to irregular immigration, while Spain's central government of Pedro Sanchez has emphasised migration's economic benefits as other EU states tighten border controls."