The motorhome users of Son Hugo denounce Cort's "harassment": "They won't drive us off the island"

PalmaThe tension between the caravan dwellers of Son Hugo and the Palma City Council continues to rise. The residents of the area report feeling "harassed" by Cort and by police actions, while they claim that living in caravans is not a choice, but the only possible alternative given the runaway increase in housing costs in Mallorca.

The residents have summoned the media this Thursday, after the spokesperson for the Palma City Council, Mercedes Celeste, said that "in Palma and the Balearic Islands there is no place for motorhomes to be installed, to do tourism or to set up campsites".

"They won't kick us off the island," summarizes Javier González, one of the residents. "It makes no sense to think that by making the caravans on the islands disappear they will make us leave," he adds. As he explains, the rental situation has reached a breaking point: "It's no longer just the price of renting or buying a home, it's the price of rooms, which is inaccessible. What alternative do we have?".

González recalled that two years ago the PP wanted to prohibit living in caravans with an "uncivil ordinance" that was initially approved, but was withdrawn due to social pressure. At that time, the mayor of Palma ended up saying: "In Palma, people live in homes, not in caravans".

The caravanners insist that they are "the consequence of a problem they did not know how to solve". Many of those who live in Son Hugo have stable jobs and assure that they support essential sectors of the Majorcan economy. "If they kick out the caravanners, the island stops. Here we all work", assures one of the residents.

Duber Sánchez recounts the daily difficulties. He explains that he earns about 1,300 euros by working overtime and that he gets up at five every morning to go to work by bicycle. "It takes 40 minutes", he says. He has electricity thanks to two batteries that he charges at work. "If one day they run out, I'll be without electricity", he laments.

"Should I be afraid because you carry a gun and a cap?"

Residents also report the treatment received during police operations. González particularly criticizes the way censuses are carried out. "They don't knock on the door like people, they bang on it as if they wanted to make it fall down," she states. "When you live in four or five square meters, the knocks are heard immediately," she adds. She also rejects feeling afraid of the officers: "Do I have to be afraid because you wear a gun and a cap?"

The caravanners also reject the image of insecurity associated with the settlement. "People who park here are afraid because they think we are the worst, but the cars are safer than in an underground car park," defends Sánchez.

Among the residents, there are also people in particularly vulnerable situations. One of the caravanners explains that he is recovering from cancer and that living with this situation inside a caravan "is not pleasant at all," but assures that he has no other option. Another denounces that his registration was withdrawn and, as a consequence, "all associated rights".

The residents insist that in Son Hugo "there are no coexistence problems" nor a conflictive environment. For this reason, they consider that the measures promoted by the municipal government team are "inhumane" and do not solve the underlying problem: the impossible access to decent housing in Mallorca.

Likewise, Begoña Iglesias has responded to Martínez and her criticism of caravans. "If you think it's uncivilized for me to live in a caravan, give me and my son a room in your apartment."