Mallorca housing protest: 1,700 march through Palma

Around 1,700 people from the education sector march through Palma, Mallorca, on Wednesday, 11 November, demanding the right to housing. Spain’s National Police gives the figure for the housing protest. It is the first of several demonstrations planned in Palma that day as part of a general strike.

The march starts at Plaza del Tubo and passes through Vía Roma, the Ramblas, Costa de la Pols, Sant Miquel and Plaza de España before ending at Parque de las Estaciones. Along the way, protesters chant that their whole salary goes to the landlord and call for the tourism sector to leave Mallorca.

Teachers point to pay and school conditions

STEI union spokesperson Catalina Bibiloni says teachers’ wages have not kept pace with inflation. She points to large classes, a lack of resources and outdated buildings. Staff have encountered temperatures of 31 degrees in October, she says.

STEI wants better conditions for teachers and public education, as well as decent housing for everyone. The union says half the teachers joined the strike at the 180 education centres it monitored.

Biel Vives, a spokesperson for the Unión Obrera Balear de Enseñanza, calls for structural measures to tackle the housing crisis. Alternativa spokesperson Miquel Àngel Santos says the protest also draws attention to pupils’ families, whose wages have not risen as fast as prices.

Tent protest plans to return

Acampar per Habitar says it plans to put tents back up in Palma’s Plaza de España after another demonstration scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. The group says its authorisation from the Spanish government’s delegation in the Balearic Islands has never expired and argues that its return is protected by the right to protest.

Palma City Council dismantled the previous camp. The group has asked anyone joining the protest to bring their own tent.

Topics: Protests · Housing · Palma

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com