“It was like an operation against drug trafficking”: Cort’s police raid against street artists

PalmaMabel Chavarino was walking from the Olivar market towards Sant Miquel when she suddenly saw, entering the pedestrian zone, three Local Police vans. A bunch of uniformed officers got out and she thought: "They are going to look for the street vendors". When she arrived at Sant Miquel, she observed how dozens of people in plain clothes –she counted more than thirty– began to put on identification vests. They were also police officers. She realized that "they are not only going to look for the street vendors" –that is what she calls them–, but that they were going after the street artists. The officers began to draw up reports, seize their equipment, put their things into garbage bags and deposit everything into the police vehicles. "Not even in an operation against drug trafficking", she summarizes.

Chavarino is the president of the Association of Street Musicians of Mallorca, the secretary of the Association of Street Artists of Palma, and a delegate for the Balearic Islands and member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Musicians of Spain. She states that this police action is the tip of the iceberg, "the most visible part of a problem that we have been dragging on for a long time." She denounces that the Palma City Council has not complied for almost two years with "some of the deadlines and procedures" established in the Instruction for Street Artists, which remains in force.

Mabel Chavarino explains that for almost two years the City Council has not opened the application and renewal processes for the licenses provided for, and that these have expired; nor has it maintained the corresponding communication with the associations. She points out that, as long as an amendment is not approved, the Administration is obliged to apply the current regulations. According to her, "it is not reasonable for it to take two years to modify a regulation and that, in the meantime, artists are left in this situation, up in the air": artists cannot renew their licenses. "They removed us from our jobs because we did not have a renewed license that the City Council did not give us the option to renew," she asserts.

The Association of Street Musicians of Mallorca had already turned to the Citizen's Ombudsman before the Sant Miquel incident to denounce this "lack of compliance and inactivity" by the City Council. The file was admitted for processing and, almost coinciding with the police action and the association's demands to Cort, a channel of communication with the City Council was finally opened.

Regarding the crisis on Sant Miquel street, the councilor explained to them –Chavarino asserts– that the "Police were misinformed and that they were also going after the street vendors". Finally, the licenses were temporarily updated and work has begun with the associations on a consensual modification of the regulatory instruction. "It is positive, but we will remain vigilant that it is fulfilled and that we artists have a voice in this modification," she points out.

"There is no effective control"

It reiterates that, in addition to the renewal of the period to apply for new licenses, the City Council has incurred other breaches: the quarterly monitoring table with artists and residents has not been carried out, nor is there police control of artists without a license. One of the criticisms from the Association of Street Musicians of Mallorca is the "bad image" that unlicensed musicians give to the entire collective and regrets that the Local Police does not carry out an "effective control". "They play in prohibited places, they play when it is not allowed to play and they occupy the space of the artists who have a license, but many times the Police pass by and do nothing", it laments.

The Palma City Council has explained to ARA Balears that the Consistory has met several times with representatives of street musicians and has confirmed that the temporary renewal, which became effective in August, will be valid until November.

The Citizens' Defender, Anna Molianen, has explained that, for her part, she is waiting for a response to her request to address the renewal of licenses from the Participation area. "What is clear is that these are regulations that must be complied with, and above all, by the City Council itself," she stated to ARA Balears. As she remarked, "this impasse situation must be corrected" so that artists "can have their permits on time and in the appropriate manner." In this sense, she considers that a grace period should be granted so that those interested in renewing their licenses "do not face negative repercussions."

For Molianen, "if these people already had the license, it is very possible that they can obtain it again." Furthermore, she has warned that if she does not receive a response from the City Council to her first request, she will make a second one to reiterate the request for a report on the situation. "What is clear is that the City Council must fulfill its obligations and, within its duties, must review the applications and grant the licenses that are appropriate," she asserted.