Madrid’s regional government closed Sol metro station on Friday, 16 October 2026, “until further notice”. El Mundo described three ventilation shafts covered by the Puerta del Sol camp and ammonia 36–77 times outdoor air in a vestibule towards Calle Mayor. Telemadrid said the closure was at 12:15, at the request of occupational-risk prevention. Cercanías stayed open; the government delegation said it found no sanitation problem there.

On Saturday, 17 October, the regional government said Sol metro would remain closed until there were “objective, documented guarantees” that health and safety had been restored. Telemadrid reported that cleaning finished at 02:00 and that the station had moved to the second phase: ventilation, sampling and analysis by an external laboratory.

The hygiene-risk report, cited by El Mundo and Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s office, links urine, faeces and standing water to rodents and station air. Specialists say the sources must be tackled from the surface, which would mean lifting the camp. Ayuso is asking the state delegation to clear the square; the housing camp has lasted about three weeks. The metro closure is a regional hygiene measure, not a court order to evict.

Metro said it was doing everything it could to reopen as soon as results allow, with worker protection as the priority. About 60,000 metro users passed through Sol each day, El Mundo reported. Shopkeepers in the square complained about the closure, Telemadrid said.

Cercanías, the commuter-rail network, stayed open in the Sol hub. The closure is the regional metro, not the whole station. Metro reopening depends on lab results, not a published clock.

This article describes a sanitation closure and a political dispute over the camp. It does not call for eviction and does not treat people in the square as convicted of a crime.

Image: Javier Perez Montes, Puerta del Sol, Madrid, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; archive square, not a photograph of the October 2026 camp.

Sources consulted: La limpieza imposible de la estación de Metro de Sol, cerrada por Ayuso — El Mundo; Metro de Sol permanecerá cerrado hasta que no se cumplan las garantías de salud y seguridad — Telemadrid.