The Housing Camp studies denouncing City Hall for the eviction of Plaza de España
The activists question that the City Council had powers to execute the operation and denounce that it did not notify them previously of the intervention, reason for which they have called a gathering this Thursday
PalmaThe housing activists who were camped out at the Plaça d'Espanya in Palma until this Wednesday are studying the possibility of reporting the Palma City Council for having evicted them without the relevant authorization or the competence to carry it out.
Participants in the Palma Housing Camp are studying taking legal action against the Palma City Council for the eviction of the Plaça d'Espanya, which was carried out on Wednesday evening. The campers consider that the Council (Cort) had neither the authorization nor the competence to carry out the operation and question that the municipal administration had not previously communicated their intention to remove the protest to them, even though they had permission to be in the square, protected by the right of assembly recognized by the Delegation of the Spanish government.
According to sources from the organization, the possibility of resorting to judicial or criminal proceedings is now in the hands of their legal team, which is studying the possible arguments to challenge the municipal action. The eviction has opened a new front of confrontation between the Palma City Council and the Delegation of the Spanish government, since on Wednesday morning, the mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, once again demanded that the state institution carry out the eviction, considering it to be their responsibility. After the first intervention, in which pallets and other objects were removed, but the camp was not dismantled, the Council justified the action due to the "lack of action" by the Delegation and in compliance with municipal ordinances.
For his part, the government delegate in the Balearic Islands, Pere Joan Pons, expressed on social media his "deep concern" regarding the eviction of a protest that, he argued, was protected by the right of assembly. Pons also remarked that no prior official request had been submitted to the competent administration for it to act.
Concentration this Thursday
After losing the camping space, the activists have not yet decided whether they will try to resume the protest at Plaça d'Espanya or if they will move to another location in Palma. Their initial intention was to maintain the camp at least until the general strike for housing scheduled for November 11th.
For now, one of the priorities is to recover the personal items and documentation that were removed by Emaya workers and Local Police officers during the eviction, without, as they report, having been given time to collect them. In any case, the organization has called for a gathering with a popular snack at Plaça d'Espanya this Thursday at 7:00 PM to give continuity to the mobilizations. "We have a legitimate struggle and we will continue to exercise it in whatever way we can," asserted one of the participants.
