On a sweltering May evening, Meza arrived at Barajas airport before 9:00 pm -- just in time to get past security. Any later, and people without a boarding pass are not allowed in under a new policy implemented a week ago to deter the hundreds of homeless people staying overnight.
Those who call Barajas home say the increased scrutiny in Europe’s fifth busiest airport is unwelcome.
“We just want to be left alone,“ Meza told AFP. “To be treated like people, not animals.”
Aena argues its facilities were never meant to house hundreds of homeless people.
Meza said the Barajas security guards know those who cause trouble in the airport.
Meza works occasional moving jobs and is hoping to save enough to rent an apartment with his brother. But like elsewhere in Spain, housing prices in the capital have soared and social housing is scarce.
Sleeping in Madrid’s airport has taken a toll on Meza.
Zow, a 62-year-old construction worker from Mali who spends his nights at Barcelona’s airport, is also weary of the stares he gets.
- Blame game -
Nearly all of them would leave the airport during the day.
City and regional governments in Madrid have clashed with Aena, which operates under the control of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist administration.
Madrid’s conservative Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida fired back, arguing that the central government controls Aena and “what’s happening depends on several ministries”.
Despite the finger-pointing, both sides have agreed to hire a consultancy to count and profile those sleeping at the airport. The study results are expected by the end of June.
“We don’t want help. We don’t want anything. We just don’t want to be bothered,“ he said.
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