An epic fight was caught on camera between squatters and heavies from the eviction company hired to get them out.
Footage shows how the enforcers are kicked and struck with a stick as they’re bundled out of the block of flats.
The chain of events began when a criminal organisation “sold” some empty flats in the building to a number of Peruvian families.
READ MORE: Moment five masked thugs break into elderly couple’s home and steal savings
Some had been told about the flats weeks earlier as they queued outside a local soup kitchen in Madrid, Spain.
Others had seen the apartments advertised on a website.
The families moved in on 8 December.
The existing residents were astonished when they saw nearly 30 families move into their building at the same time.
The locks on the front doors of all the occupied flats were changed.
A doorman was even brought in to open the main door to the squatters from the inside.
Since the families moved in, the existing residents have been complaining about their lack of respect for the community rules.
They say they’ve been making noise at night, getting into fights, and even including gang members among their number.
The property manager installed alarms in the remaining empty flats and filed a complaint with the police.
The police are investigating, but no arrests have been made to date.
The company also hired an eviction company to get the squatters out.
In Spain, squatting has long been a problem.
Because it is not prosecuted much and because squatters are savvy when it comes to the law, it can take landlords months or even years to get them out.
In response, several eviction companies have sprung up.
For a fee, they mediate between the property owners and the squatters.
Tactics they use include blocking re-entry when the squatters leave the property, offering them money to leave, and intimidating them.
The people they employ are often trained in martial arts, as reported by Need To Know.
Ten strongmen from one such company arrived at the building in Madrid on 23 December.
They negotiated with several of the squatters and even offered them money to leave.
However, the squatters refused to budge and confronted them with belts, sticks, and other items from their new homes.
They managed to drive the men, one of whom was injured, away.
Some of the squatters claim they were assaulted and even pepper-sprayed by the men.
Several went to the police to report the alleged attacks.
READ MORE: Woman, 30, wanted by Interpol is arrested in hospital ‘during birth process’
