First thing in the morning, around 8 a.m., three local police officers Alicante They appeared this Wednesday at the El Postiguet beach. A few meters from the renovated breakwater, and in the area adjacent to the wall that separates the beach from the promenade, five people slept protected by tents or umbrellastowels, blankets and hygienic supplies.
The agents, upon arrival, have warned the homeless people from the ban on camping in the areaand have required the removal of objects, request that they have obeyed immediately amidst complaints.
It is not the first action of this type that the Local Police carries out in Alicante. In recent weeks They have intervened in neighborhoods such as PAU 1 and 2 or in Rabasaalthough the camps resist in the area after the police operation.
As for El Postiguet, this summer settlements have been observed in the garden near the aforementioned breakwater and also in the indicated area of the beach, from where this Wednesday five people have been evicted.
dramatic stories
One of the affected people, Ana, of Russian origin, slept next to her partner, Miguel, from Hungary. She explains that she knew Alicante 15 years ago and that “a few months ago” she and her companion returned to the city, where they slept in a rented room near the Central Market. However, A robbery changed their stay in Alicante and they could not keep the room. The street was his only destination.
This citizen He assures that “Alicante was not like that before,” he says in relation to the difficulties in accessing housing.and adds that in El Postiguet, together with the other people with whom they slept on the beach, they have been able to forge “a family.” According to him, they do not cause “problems”, they are not “drug addicts” and they do not bother “anyone”, and he reports that they have even tried to rob them on more than one occasion.
Another of the evicted, Alberto, of Colombian origin, has been in Spain for 32 years and this summer he landed in Alicantefrom the Canary Islands, “with 4,000 euros to find a room and a job” after years working as a tiler. However, Due to the high prices for accommodation, requests for advances and deposits, “in less than a month the money ran out.” It was then that he moved to the street after seeing “that the shelters were full.”
The rest of the affected people, who preferred to remain anonymous, have had similar experiences. One of the evicted, of Italian origin, explains that he has been on the streets for five monthswho had previously been in Murcia and had been sleeping in El Postiguet for a month. As he explains, in his country of origin “they don't know anything” about him, and he regrets that they consider him “dead” because He is “embarrassed” to call his loved ones and “explain to them the conditions” in which he lives.
Finally, another person, coming from “a nearby town,” according to his story, explains that he has been spending nights in El Postiguet since July “due to the economic situation.” He is waiting, according to what he says, for a trial after having suffered a “work accident” and being left “without the possibility of working.”
Subscribe to continue reading