One big terrace, one big protest: Mallorca news round-up

Up to 40,000 people (the organisers' estimate) protested in defence of the Catalan language last Sunday. When there have been large rallies of this kind in the past, there have been supplementary or perhaps one should say complementary protest themes. Sunday was no different in this regard. "Those who love Mallorca do not destroy it." This was a slogan for those gathered in Palma's Plaça Major. Mallorca's culture, Mallorca's society; the protest had a somewhat broader context.

While this demonstration pointed to the potential for conflict ostensibly because of language, other issues are not far from the surface. Housing is most certainly one of these, the pressures on communities having been highlighted by a video that had gone viral last week. Messages from a group of residents in Sencelles were: "They are throwing us out of our homes, out of our town and eventually out of Mallorca, because we cannot afford housing due to the constant increases in the price of rents and homes." "We have to be aware of selling houses to tourists, they raise rents and prices in restaurants, all this is driving us out of our land."

Responding to this video, a professor of human geography at the University of the Balearic Islands, Luis Alfonso Escudero Gómez, argued that social demonstrations will become widespread. He foresaw "a very serious social outbreak", referring to how residents have been affected by Europeans' second homes, tourist homes, boutique hotels and agrotourism. What was once a pressure situation in Palma is now being felt in Mallorca's villages, e.g. Sencelles.

The "persecution" of motorhome dwellers

Motorhome dwellers insist that they live this way because they have been left with little other choice. Javier is one of the organisers of a Saturday protest against a new Palma town hall bylaw. Among other things, this will require that vehicles do not remain in the same place for more than ten days. Javier says that people who cannot find housing are being "persecuted". Limiting his right to live in a motorhome is a denial of his "dignity". Mayor Jaime Martínez argues that living in a motorhome is "undignified" and adds that his administration and the government are pursuing initiatives because there hadn't been housing policies; hence "we have reached a critical point".

An amnesty for more holiday rentals?

Yes, but it depends on the type of initiative. Is a planning amnesty whereby thousands of properties on so-called rustic land could be legalised going to do anything for the housing problem? No. And it would seem that after five years of having been legalised, these properties could become holiday rentals. The government isn't sure how many properties there are; perhaps as many as 30,000, the majority of which are decades old. (The government has since said that it will be preventing their use as holiday rentals.)

How many vehicles can a road take?

There is no certainty of course that they would be tourist housing, but even if a percentage were to be, they would add to the dynamic that the Sencelles video has drawn attention to. Scattered around the island, they would also add to infrastructure issues, e.g. the roads.

The government and the Council of Mallorca do genuinely seem to have been taken aback by recent images of traffic congestion in the Soller area and in Formentor. The Council's councillor for mobility, Fernando Rubio, says that the Council "is willing to take brave and decisive measures". He isn't ruling out there being limits to the number of vehicles entering Mallorca. Meanwhile, there is to be a study of roads' carrying capacities, Rubio blaming the previous administration for the current situation. Had it commissioned a study, "this would now allow us to apply measures immediately".

Palma becoming a "mega-terrace"

Opposition parties accuse the government of permissiveness in respect of legislative initiatives such as the planning amnesty. An opposition party in Palma, Més, claims that the Martínez Partido Popular administration "is turning Palma into a mega-terrace, with all the increase in chaos and anti-social behaviour this entails". There is "abusive occupation of public space" by bar and restaurant terraces, the federation of residents associations saying that restaurant owners "must have come to the conclusion that this administration is turning a blind eye". The town hall insists that there has been no change to terrace criteria and no modification of public way ordinance.

Terraces contribute to noise, and a group of residents who live on Palma's Paseo Marítimo have announced that they will specifically denounce the town hall for the noise and excesses generated by nightlife. "Residents have lost the right to peace and quiet," says the federation, which wants to be involved with negotiations for the revised tourism of excesses decree. "It is necessary that the citizens, who are the most affected, are not left out." Fair enough, though the government hasn't as yet given an indication that the decree will be extended to areas other than Playa de Palma, which is at present the only part of the city covered by the decree.

Demolishing a small palace

There is to be no permissiveness when it comes to the small palace that is the property of drugs baron 'El Pablo'. As well as imposing hefty fines, Palma town hall made clear earlier this week that the palace will be demolished; planning permissions have been breached.

This is one of those extraordinary stories that surfaces from time to time. As part of the massive Operation Checkmate in March, the Guardia Civil raided the home of Pablo Campos Maya. He was already in prison, but the Guardia were determined to dismantle what had become a sort of fortress created on an unremarkable street - C. Teix - in La Soledad. A whole row of houses had been knocked through. A luxury property replete with swimming pool and an underground tunnel was behind the facade.

This palace hadn't just appeared. El Pablo and his clan had been forcing people out of houses and developing the property over many years. A question demanding an answer is whether public officials knew about this. Had there been permissiveness and the turning of a blind eye?

Operation Checkmate resulted in the seizure of 1.3 tonnes of cocaine. On Tuesday this haul was incinerated at the Son Reus plant in Palma. The Spanish government's delegate in the Balearics, Alfonso Rodríguez, praised international cooperation and the work of Spain's security forces in the fight against drugs trafficking.

The exorcist of Manacor

Incineration of a different type, and a particularly gruesome one, greeted National Police investigators at the finca on the outskirts of Manacor where 49-year-old Miquel Binimelis murdered his 56-year-old brother and 82-year-old mother on Sunday, April 28. The police have as yet been unable to determine the exact cause of the mother's death because her body was completely charred.

News of this awful event continues to filter out. Miquel has told police that he performed an exorcism as he believed that his brother and mother had both been possessed. The finca itself needed exorcising. In explaining why the windows of a Citroën had been smashed, he said that the car could take people to another dimension.

Contrary to earlier reports, Miquel does not have a psychiatric history. But he suffered a psychotic break. A judge in Manacor has ordered his imprisonment but only when it is felt that he can be transferred from the psychiatric unit at Son Espases Hospital.

Blue Flag indifference

On a much brighter note, two of Manacor's neighbours - Sant Llorenç and Felanitx - have a total of six Blue Flags this year. The annual Blue Flags awards were announced on Wednesday, and there are 46 in all in the Balearics for beaches, marinas and boats, four more than in 2023.

Brighter note but with an air of indifference. Why doesn't Manacor have any Blue Flags? Probably because the town hall didn't apply for any and go through the rigmarole. Only certain municipalities have these flags; it boils down to whether they apply or not. There are a number of other beach quality certifications nowadays, and several town halls are happy enough with these alone. Besides, how much attention do holidaymakers really pay to Blue Flags these days?