The Cultural and Recreational Association of Motorhomes for Lanzarote (ACRAL) has denied that the motorhome owners evicted from Papagayo last Thursday night were violating the measures against Covid-19, after the Yaiza City Council stated that the Local Police had confirmed this.
Specifically, from the southern Consistory they told La Voz that, in their police report, the agents who intervened explained that they had detected "lack of use of masks, meetings of more than four people and lack of interpersonal distance." "We reject all these statements, which in our understanding are even contradicted for several reasons," says ACRAL.
Firstly, the association states that "the agents passed by in the early hours of the afternoon" and that "at no time did they tell those present that they were violating the Covid protocol, nor that they were not going to let them spend the night inside the vehicles."
They also question "how it is possible that they saw people without masks, with people inside the vehicles due to the curfew, if as soon as the agents arrived they began to bang on the caravans already urging eviction"; and "how could the agents verify that the groups of more than four people they say they have seen were not cohabiting families."
The Cultural and Recreational Association of Motorhomes for Lanzarote also asks that if the eviction was due to breaches of the Covid measures, "how is it possible that once outside the Taro entrance to Los Ajaches, they were allowed to park in the same conditions as inside."
Similarly, they assure that it is "inaccurate" that the agents arrived at 9:15 p.m. to Papagayo. "It was just 5 minutes before 10:00 p.m., when the curfew was already in effect, which was one of the allegations of those parked there," he adds.
They ask that what happened be investigated and that "responsibilities be purged"
For all this, the Cultural and Recreational Association of Motorhomes for Lanzarote states that it has registered a letter addressed to the mayor of Yaiza, requesting "that an informative file be opened on what happened" and that "responsibilities be purged for the actions of the Local Police" if they did not act "with proportionality" and in a manner "adjusted to the regulations."
They also demand to know if the eviction order came from the Headquarters or if it was the agents' own initiative, although the City Council has already commented on this point, assuring that "neither the municipal government nor the Police Headquarters ordered the police action on the day and time of the eviction."
Finally, the president of the Cultural and Recreational Association of Motorhomes for Lanzarote, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez García, states from the organization he chairs that "at all times" they have "tried to reach agreements" and "extend a hand to dialogue with all public institutions, being respectful of the agreements reached.
"At no time is it our intention to confront, so we believe that we should receive the same in the interest of a good understanding between caravaners and public institutions," he concludes
