Alberto Jarabo of Podemos is now Palma’s councillor for citizen participation and internal government. He would seem to have a somewhat different perspective on illegal street sellers to a Podemos predecessor, the former councillor for internal government, Aurora Jhardi.
Jarabo has been commenting in particular on the presence of illegal sellers at the artisan markets in Plaça Major and S’Hort del Rei. This has caused a great deal of anger among licensed traders. Tellingly, Jarabo observes that although there is regulation for these markets, there has until now been a “certain laxity” on behalf of the town hall.
He has given instruction to the police to take greater action in preventing people without permission from setting up in the markets. He accepts, however, that there needs to be greater clarity and that the police require this. There is to be a meeting of councillors with responsibilities related to street trading, and this - Jarabo says - will arrive at “consensus for criteria so that the police will have clarity on how they should act”.
The councillor notes that the markets are on typical routes taken by cruise tourists. The objective, he stresses, should be to enable traders to sell and generate income. What cannot be accepted is that there are individuals who occupy the same spaces as legitimate artisan vendors and who do so without licences.
