MAGALLUF, THE BIG FACEBOOK DEBATE

Palma.—It comes to something when visitors who have been coming to Majorca for the past sixteen years feel compelled to write to this newspaper and say that they will not be returning because they felt "very unsafe" in having to "run the gauntlet of numerous African women" every time they walked back to their hotel in Magalluf. They were of course referring to the prostitutes of Magalluf.

The word "prostitutes" is of course a misnomer. Muggers would be and is more accurate. And increasingly violent ones at that.

The letter was such that we felt the need to feature it on our front page. Why? It is not the first time it has been said, but the letter summed up what everyone feels. Enough is enough.

If Magalluf and Majorca lose visitors because they feel unsafe, then everyone suffers. There it was, on the front cover.

Evidence for those such as representatives at Calvia Town Hall, the government’s delegate to the Balearics, police, whoever might be interested, that words are no longer sufficient. Deeds and serious deeds need to be done. Enough is enough.

On our Facebook page, this sort of sentiment was made clear.

"Drastic action is required to make the people in the ivory towers listen."

"I’ve often thought of the problem as exaggerated, but during an annual visit in April it was really bad. The pestering by the prostitutes is becoming more aggressive and they are hunting in packs and pulled a broken bottle out on a guy."

"One police officer told me it is worse than we even know."

"It is getting worse by the hour and if it continues, I’ll be off. And there are more expats sharing my opinion."

"The police will work together against the looky-lookies and muggers (but we aren’t sure how). We are not stupid any more. No election talk."

"The local councils know how to deal with anti-social behaviour. Yet they do not pursue the matters that bother the people and ruin the resorts. We all hear the silence when we ask them to clean up the resorts."

It is probably fair to say that it is understood that the problem with the prostitutes is not confined to Magalluf (Playa de Palma has a similar problem) and that it is one which goes much wider in that it involves organised criminal gangs.

But this wider context is of little interest to visitors or indeed to residents who have simply had enough both of the prostitutes (and the looky-lookies) and of promises of action which fail to materialise or which prove to be ineffective.

The gauntlet of prostitutes is one that visitors are forced to run. There is another gauntlet. One that we are throwing down. It doesn’t matter which agency, but for God’s sake, someone sort it out before it is too late. Or perhaps it already is, as was suggested on our Facebook page.