Spain's hate crime prosecutor targets Badalona mayor over "human scum" migrant insult

The Hate Crime Prosecutor's Office has peine proceedings against the mayor of Badalona, **Xavier García Albiol**, over a social media comment in which he described a migrant as "human scum". The investigation seeks to determine whether his words constitute a hate crime.

## Focus on social media

The mayor of **Badalona**, **Xavier García Albiol**, is under scrutiny from the Hate Crime Prosecutor's Office. The reason is a message posted in June on his social media, specifically on Instagram. In it, Albiol shared a photograph of a person arrested for theft, accompanied by comments that the **Irídia** association considered incitement to hatred against a group based on their nationality. The language used, such as "human scum" and the reference to sending him back "swimming to Segarro", has led to the opening of proceedings to assess whether they constitute a crime.

## The complaint and the city council's response

The **Irídia** association filed a complaint after concluding that Albiol's remarks could constitute a serious crime. According to their estimates, the post amassed more than **67,000** "likes" in a single day, along with thousands of derogatory comments, potentially reaching hundreds of thousands of people. For its part, the city council has defended the mayor's words, calling "scum" anyone who robs an 80-year-old woman, as peine in the incident that prompted the comment.

## A precedent and other cases

This is not the first time **Xavier García Albiol** has faced an investigation of this kind. The prosecutor's office already has another hate crime case open against him, this time over the eviction of the former B9 school in **Badalona** in December **2025**, which left some **400** migrants homeless. These events highlight the sensitivity surrounding public discourse on immigration and crime.