Mallorca housing protesters return after Palma eviction

Mallorca housing protesters return to Plaza de España in Palma, Mallorca, on Thursday, 5 November, hoping to sleep there after the city ordered their camp cleared on Wednesday. Palma Local Police and workers from the municipal company Emaya dismantled the camp.

Heavy rain drives their planned meeting under the arcades of Mercat de l’Olivar. They later return to the square, read a statement and share a meal. Several police patrols remain nearby.

A dispute over the eviction

According to the protesters, officers tell them they must remain standing to be covered by the right to assemble, rather than sit or lie on the ground. The group sees this as another attempt to intimidate them. It also says the city removed the pallets marking out the camp a day before the eviction, leaving the new camp without a boundary.

The group calls the eviction unlawful and says its lawyers are preparing a criminal complaint. Pere Joan Pons, the Spanish government’s representative in the Balearic Islands, has voiced concern about the city’s actions and said the camp fell within the right to assemble.

Shelter dispute and next steps

Palma City Council says social services offered alternative accommodation to homeless people sleeping at the camp. A protest spokeswoman, Clara, disputes this. She says the emergency social care mobile unit did not answer when the group called three times.

The protesters want an immediate 50% cut in rents and more public social housing. They have cancelled a gathering in Plaza Madrid and called a meeting in Plaza de España for 8 November, ahead of a general strike on 11 November.

Topics: Protests · Housing · Palma

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com