The shanty town in the Palmas de Gran Canaria district Son Oliva continues to gain ground under the railway bridge and the Vía de Cintura, as well as near the Balearic Stadium, Son Castelló Industrial Area, Can Valero or the already historic one in front of the cemetery of These are Valenti.
In total, the number of people who spend the night outside or in a shanty town in Palma, it has tripled in the last two terms. If in 2015 there were 135, now there are more than 400an indication of the increase in poverty that has occurred in Palma in these years, increased by the latest covid pandemic.
This is reflected in the data from the count carried out last year by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, in collaboration with the Majorcan Institute of Social Affairs (IMAS).
It took less than seven months for the current mayor of Palma, Jaime Martinez, to put an end to the embarrassing colonization of shanty towns Ses Stations Park, 100 meters from the central Plaza de España that the previous left-wing government, with the Socialist Party Jose Hila in front, authorized for five years.
But the neglect and permissiveness maintained over the last eight years by the former first mayor does not end in just one year and misery is still present in many corners of Palma.
As the Vox councilor of the Palma city council explains in a video, Jero Mayas“There are several tents on the seafront and obviously they are not spending the summer, they are not tourists, we cannot confront them, but they are people who have nowhere to live.”
JERO MAYANS: “IF ORDERS ARE MADE BY THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, IT IS SO THAT THEY ARE RESPECTED.”
-VOX Palma municipal group councilor Jero Mayans on the pressing problem of shanty towns in central areas of the city. pic.twitter.com/kIi3uVIM3Z
– VOX Palma (@Vox_Palma) August 20, 2024
Mayans regrets that the Administration makes “regulations, civic ordinances and these must be respected because the City Hall is there to enforce these regulations.” On this subject, the councilor of the party of Santiago Abascal He points out that “camping is prohibited in the city of Palma.”
“Obviously these people are not here for fun, they are not here for pleasure, we have to find a place for them and for that We have excellent work in social protectiongreat job. One of the functions of the entire team of social workers of the Palma City Council is: to find housing and a future for these people who live in poverty in the middle of our city.
It must be taken into account that the 2014 civic ordinance, which is still in force, and the new one which is not yet operational, not having been initially approved by the plenary assembly, Installations on public roads are prohibitedThe first of these is found in Article 68.2, which penalizes the permanent installation in public spaces or of street furniture, tents, vehicles and camper vans with 50 euros.
Camping on roads or in public areas is prohibited.
The new municipal ordinance, which has not yet been processed, prohibits in its article 69 “camping on roads and in public spaces, an action that includes the stable installation in these public spaces or of their elements or furniture or tents“.
Furthermore, not only does it not allow people to sleep day or night in these spaces, but when it comes to people in situations of social exclusion, the authorities who intervene “must inform them of the possibility of go to social services “so that they receive the necessary social or medical care as soon as possible.”
But not only are the camping trips that are proliferating everywhere prohibited, but “use public benches and seats for different purposes to those for whom they are intended”, “washing or bathing in fountains, boxes or the like”, “washing clothes in fountains, ponds, showers or the like” or “carrying out the activity of valet without authorization in public spaces to those for whom they are intended”. drivers of vehicles with the intention of obtaining an economic advantage from unauthorized persons.
