Cort demands that the housing encampment be evicted, but the Government Delegation sees no grounds to do so

PalmaThe Palma City Council has demanded that the Spanish government's Delegation in the Balearic Islands act "immediately" to evict the housing encampment, which has been located in Plaça d'Espanya since Monday. Sources from Cort claim that the reason for demanding the expulsion of the people camping is none other than the fact that "the deadline communicated by the organization to the Delegation to carry out the demonstration has already expired."

However, the Spanish government's Delegation in the Balearic Islands has assured ARA Balears that, first of all, they have not received any "formal request from the Palma City Council" and that "there are no grounds to evict the encampment, as they are not breaking any regulations." Despite not having received any request, sources from the Delegation explained to this newspaper that they have conveyed to Cort that the encampment is, in principle, protected by the right of assembly, given that the mobilization was communicated in advance.

Faced with the complaint from Cort, which claims that the deadline has already expired, sources from the Delegation point out that "the possibility that the encampment would extend beyond the initial demonstration, they explain, had also been communicated."

However, the Delegation of the Spanish government in the Balearic Islands considers that it is a temporary mobilization and points out that, at this moment, there is no evidence that it is causing disturbances to public order or affecting basic services. In this sense, sources explain that when the gathering at Cort was communicated, the possibility that the mobilization could be prolonged was also pointed out, so, according to the Delegation, it cannot be interpreted that there was a specific deadline that has already expired.

Thus, the Delegation maintains, in any case, a monitoring of the situation and points out that, if any type of incident related to public order, security or the affectation of services were to occur, the situation would be analyzed and the corresponding measures would be adopted.

It should be noted that in the statement where the Palma City Council demanded the eviction, it also did so with a critical tone towards the Government Delegation, demanding that it "assume its responsibilities" and adopt "immediate" measures to "restore normality", since, as they argue, this square is "a public space through which 50,000 people pass every day". The Government Delegation's response confirms that everything is developing in accordance with regulations and they have no reason to intervene.

In the complaint, the City Council has indicated that, at this moment, it is "occupied by tents that prevent municipal public services from carrying out their daily and ordinary cleaning and maintenance tasks and that citizens can make use of the space normally".

In the same way, they have warned that flags and other elements have been hung on the statue of King James, for which it would have been necessary to climb to the base of the monument for their placement, "with the danger to the physical integrity of the people that this entails and the damage that can be caused to the statue". "The City Council must prevent any situation that could affect safety, health, civility and coexistence in the city, which is why the Government Delegation is urged to act and the people camped to abandon the site, remove the tents, furniture and all installed equipment and leave the place in perfect condition, so that all citizens can use it normally", they argued.

The City Council has stated that it "respects the right to demonstrate and assemble," but has stressed that its exercise "cannot imply an appropriation of public space that violates current regulations." For all these reasons, the City Council has urged the Government Delegation to intervene "without delay" in order to guarantee "the appropriate use of public space and respect for the rules."