Residents in Santa Catalina, Palma demanding "respect and civility"

Posters are being put out in Santa Catalina. | Miquel À. Cañellas

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma13/07/2021 12:05

One of the residents associations in Palma's Santa Catalina district is behind a campaign of posters with the message 'Silence, Respect, Civility'. Not all residents are putting up posters, though. This is because businesses can identify them, and some residents have already been subject to verbal abuse from bar and restaurant proprietors. One resident asked a street musician to stop playing and was attacked.

Residents are calling for help from the town hall, saying that the situation in Santa Catalina has become unsustainable since the lifting of the curfew. They observe that over the past ten years there has been "a screwed-up model based on an overcrowding of businesses". They claim that there are some premises without licences, and yet there are no inspections.

Meetings are being held with the councillor for citizen security, Joana Maria Adrover, at which greater vigilance and more sanctions are being demanded. Residents want to reverse what they describe as the "Magallufisation" of Santa Catalina.

Another association has its own campaign calling for civility. It has the backing of the local restaurants association and of market traders. There is general agreement that greater vigilance is necessary. Jacinta Galindo of the association of residents and friends of Santa Catalina says that "absolute control" of licences is needed. "We have never seen so many businesses breaking the rules. They cannot earn money at the expense of the residents."