[WATCH] Immigration police evict 80 migrants in raid on former St Paul’s Bay hotel

Over 100 people have been evicted from a rundown hotel in a police raid which is still underway in St Paul’s Bay.

Immigration police and members of the Rapid Intervention Unit swooped down on the former Paloma Hotel early on Monday morning.

Police on site were seen checking immigration documents and are asking tenants whether they had residence permits. A number of people were taken away in police vans. 

Those residents who did have the required residence documentation have ended up in the street without their possessions, which have been left in their rooms and which they are not being allowed to enter.

One woman who appeared to be a tenant could be seen arguing with the police, who were refusing to let her back into the building. The woman could be heard shouting “I am not a criminal”, venting her anger at a man standing next to the police, who she said she had paid good money to live in the block.

“Wait, wait, your money I don’t keep, I give it to the Russian,” the man could later be heard telling the woman. The owner of the block of apartments is reported to be a Russian man who is wanted on charges of fraud. 

The woman was one of many who demanded that the man pay them back their rent money.

Other tenants refused to leave, and were unable to understand why they were being taken into custody. Most were from Nigeria and Gambia. 

A large number of police officers and medical personnel are on site as the police make their way through the hotel’s various blocks.

The police have cordoned off the area as they continue their searches.

The people living in the rundown hotel are believed to have been paying €200 a month, with up to five sleeping in every room.

Photos published online by ONE News show the cramped and squalid conditions were living in.

A number of people have been taken way in police vans. It appears as though far more people have been found living in the complex than was originally believed. 

The police could be heard calling people out one by one for the them to board the van.

Last month, a large number of migrants were found living a stables complex in Marsa where they were renting out rooms for €100 a month.