Protest against the felling of beautiful shade trees: "There are economic interests behind it"

PalmAround fifty neighbors – equipped with pots, cheese graters, trumpets and wooden spoons, among other utensils – staged a pot-banging protest against the felling of the beautiful shadows The residents of Plaça Llorenç Villalonga, Palma, have expressed their suspicion that the city council cut down 18 beautiful shade trees due to the "risk of falling," as the council claims. Instead, they suggest there are "economic interests behind it," given the hotel located just a few meters from the square. Edita Navarro, president of the La Calatrava Residents' Association, pointed out that "the Health Department is creating problems for businesses trying to install shade structures under these trees because of the fruit they produce." This raises suspicions among residents who link the tree removal to the intention of building a terrace overlooking Plaça Llorenç Villalonga, "the last major square not dedicated to the terrace business," she emphasized.

At the last Palma City Council meeting, Vox councilor Fulgencio Coll asserted that the trees were "disease." However, residents insisted that the trees were "perfectly healthy" on the day they were cut down. Therefore, residents and associations such as Palma XXI, Friends of the Earth, and GOB, among others, have hired external experts to verify, with reports, that the beautiful shade trees that were felled were not diseased. Once the documents are prepared, the residents will consider taking legal action.

Furthermore, residents requested external reports to determine the health of the trees because, they complained, the City Council did not provide them with the relevant documents. According to sources within the Palma City Council opposition, speaking to ARA Baleares, the governing team has also withheld the reports from opposition parties, although some have requested them in writing. "We don't know what they based their decision to cut them down on. They spoke to us about trees in general, but we want individualized studies and for them to explain which trees they will replace," demanded Javier Aguilar, a resident of the area. On the other hand, residents also criticized the speed with which the City Council carried out the felling. "Only a month has passed since they announced it. This haste has never been seen before. Why did they do it like this?" asked Navarro.

Before the felling, residents asked the City Council to adopt precautionary measures to explore other possibilities for resolving the problem without removing the trees. "But they didn't listen to us," Aguilar lamented. During the protest, residents shouted that the members of the Palma City Council's governing team were "terrorists" and "murderers," and at the same time demanded the resignation of Mayor Jaime Martínez.

For all these reasons, residents and organizations have asked the Palma City Council (Cort) to assume the corresponding political and technical responsibilities, to offer public explanations about the actions taken, to undertake concrete steps to repair the damage caused, and to adopt urgent measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again. They have urged the Palma City Council to "work to clean up the tremendously negative image that this action has projected onto the city."

The hotel's new open views

The residents also pointed out that the beautiful shade trees cut down by Palma City Council "blocked the views" from the Hotel La Calatrava, also located in Llorenç Villalonga Square. Now, as can be seen in the photograph, the hotel enjoys new, unobstructed views.