A woman and her son were evicted from one of the slums on Joan Miró Street in Palma.
The family has been left homeless and Stop Evictions is looking for a place to sleep.
This browser does not support the video element.
PalmA judicial commission on Thursday executed the eviction of a mother and her minor son who were living in one of the substandard apartments on Joan Miró Street in Palma. These apartments are owned by a local police officer who was sanctioned by the government for renting them out.
According to the spokesperson for Stop Evictions Mallorca, Joan Segura, the first police patrols began arriving at number 24 on Joan Miró Street shortly before 7:00 a.m. The judicial commission, composed of an officer "who usually laughs" at those affected and who had been previously disciplined, Segura noted, arrived shortly before 9:00 a.m. After a few hours of "pressure," the mother collapsed and had to be treated by the health services in the room where she lived with her son.
According to the spokesperson for Stop Evictions, the police took advantage of this situation to escort both the activists and the child out of the room. This, he explained, "made it easier to carry out the eviction," which was carried out shortly after, at around 12:00 p.m. Immediately afterward, the "workers" hired by the local police have "destroyed" the room and walled it up so that no one can live there.
No residential alternative
Subsequently, Segura continued, the victims were taken to the Palma City Council's social services offices, where they were offered a hostel for a few days. The mother, however, declined the offer due to the impossibility of bringing her dog with them, a small, elderly dog that requires her care.
This entire situation has caused the woman to feel ill again and she has been transferred to a health center to receive medical attention. Stop Desahucios, its spokesperson has assured, is now working to find a residential alternative for the family.
In the Joan Miró substandard housing, located in a basement, migrant families and people who are in vulnerable situations live, the organization has recalled. Several of them have faced threats of eviction for months by the local police officer in Palma who rents to them, who was suspended from his duties and sanctioned by the Government with a fine of two million euros.
The activists have demanded the suspension of evictions, the reconnection of water and electricity supplies and the expropriation of homes.