Madrid Social Center Becomes Focus for Clashes on Immigration, Welfare

A reception center for minors in Madrid became the focus for clashing views on immigration and social welfare Thursday, a day after police defused a grenade found there.

The row around the center, in the suburb of Hortaleza, crystallized worries about immigration and insecurity that helped the far-right Vox party double its result in last month's election to become the third-biggest bloc in parliament.

Vox repeatedly singled out the center during the campaign, with party leader Santiago Abascal denouncing "criminal foreign youngsters." Last month, an extreme right-wing group called Hogar Social staged a protest at the gates, demanding the center's closure to restore "security."

Police have made no arrests and some officials say gang violence may also have been behind the incident — with the device most likely thrown over the walls in a bag, according to Tedax, the Spanish police bomb squad. The grenade contained a minimal explosive charge, and no one was hurt.

Dangerous climate

But government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa said the inflammatory rhetoric from Vox, which staged a visit to the area by party spokeswoman Rocio Monasterio during the campaign, had created a dangerous climate.

"Words are ultimately internalized and intoxicate our consciences," she told reporters. "We don't like these words. We believe they incite certain behaviors from citizens which are not desirable in a country which desires social cohesion and peace for all."

With Spain's Socialist party still struggling to form a government after the election and separatist riots in Catalonia fresh in collective memory, Wednesday's incident has added to a volatile political climate in Spain.

The center houses around 90 youngsters, most from North Africa, as well as some Spaniards. Several residents appeared wary, although according to city authorities, Hortaleza has some of the lowest crime rates in Madrid.

"I don't feel safe passing by the center's gates alone," said Elizabeth Lopez-Vega, 34, who said a young man she was told lived in the center had tried to steal her mobile phone last week.

'Nobody is teaching them'

"They need more social educators," she said. "Nobody is integrating them into society and nobody is teaching them a thing."

Social workers say the center is run down, although it no longer suffers from the severe overcrowding it faced earlier this year, when minors were forced to sleep on the floor.

But they feel "singled out, like a cross has been painted on our door," said one social worker who asked to remain anonymous. "We're tired, afraid and fed up."