Mallorca housing protesters plan to camp again in Palma

Mallorca housing protesters plan to camp again at Plaza de España in Palma, Mallorca, after Wednesday’s general strike, a week after a police operation they call an eviction. The group announced its plan at a Palma City Council meeting on Tuesday, 10 November. Protester Clara Santano said the strike comes first: the group wants people to organise around housing as a basic right before it returns to the square.

At the meeting, another member urged people to join the strike. Housing, he argued, has become a way to build wealth rather than a place to live.

Protesters dispute police action

Santano said last Wednesday’s operation breached the group’s right to assemble. She claimed Palma’s Local Police arrived without authorisation and stopped protesters collecting their belongings. Emaya workers later told the group its self-run public library had been burnt or destroyed, she said.

When protesters tried to continue without tents, Santano said, officers even tried to stop them sitting on the ground.

City denies evicting anyone

Palma’s councillor for public safety, Llorenç Bauzá, gave a different account. He said only three people were at the camp when officers arrived. They were told they could stay, he said, but objects left in the public square without the required permit would be removed.

Bauzá said the protesters left voluntarily and denied that police had evicted them. He said officers were enforcing the city’s rules on public conduct and use of public space, following an instruction from the government delegate on 6 October.

Topics: Police · Protests · Palma

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com