On Wednesday, two Spaniards, who had been arrested following the disturbances in Son Gotleu on Monday night, appeared in court in Palma. As they were entering the court building, one told waiting photographers to take photos of the Algerians - "they're the bad ones".
There has been a heavy police presence on the streets of Son Gotleu since Monday. A troubled district of Palma, there are police concerns of a repeat of what happened during the summer of 2011 when gypsies and Nigerians clashed.
Yet for all that there has been trouble in the past, the various communities who live in Son Gotleu have achieved some accommodation. And now, Spaniards (many of them gypsy families), Moroccans, Nigerians and others are united against new incomers - Algerians. Mostly aged around twenty, they have been breaking the local code - you do not steal from your neighbours.
Accused of break-ins, robbery with violence and stabbings, these young Algerians are recent arrivals. They have taken over squats. They are said to be addicted to Lyrica (Pregabalin), a prescription drug used as a pain treatment, among other things. Misuse can have effects similar to taking marijuana.
A veteran National Police officer says: "They are so high that they don't care about anything. That's why they don't go to other places to steal. What they hadn't bargained on was that in Son Gotleu the balance is very delicate and that attitudes like theirs have immediate consequences.
"The Algerians never go anywhere alone. They move in very large groups, to intimidate and not be picked out one by one. These are techniques used by brother clans on the outskirts of Paris or in Marseille years ago."
The alliance of the different communities wants to run the Algerians out of Son Gotleu. But the police recognise the problem: "If they were to expelled from the neighbourhood, they would go to another and do exactly the same thing." A solution is to get them convicted of serious crimes and sent to prison. But this can be easier said than done.
Iker García has lived in Son Gotleu for 28 years. For him, there is no doubt that the Algerians are the problem in the neighbourhood, and he speaks for others - for the gypsies and the rest - in saying: "If the town hall and the police don't stop this, it's going to get out of hand. You used to be able to walk peacefully on the streets, but since the Algerians arrived, this neighbourhood has become a jungle."
2 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Import the 3rd world, you get 3rd world problems. Scumbags
Mallorca's very own favela.