Socialist Youth of Lanzarote and La Graciosa have condemned the response of the Arrecife City Council, presided over by Yonathan de León, to the mobilization for the right to housing in the Ramírez Cerdá park. The organization rejects the warnings of possible fines and eviction publicly denounced by its representatives and calls on the mayor to "open a channel of dialogue".
José Carlos Roger considers that these warnings represent "a repressive response to a demand that thousands of people on Lanzarote share and that has led citizens to mobilize throughout the country: to be able to access decent housing. Those who demonstrate are giving voice to a social emergency that institutions have the obligation to face". As reported by members of the assembly, the sanctions could reach 4,500 euros per person.
Likewise, members of the assembly state that the mayor himself appeared at the protest site and climbed onto the bandstand to take photographs. According to these testimonies, the Local Police would also have informed them that the municipal cleaning service would come to remove the installed elements, a warning that, in the opinion of the Socialist Youth of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, is interpreted as an announcement of eviction.
"The mayor has to explain these actions. Those who are there deserve that their City Council listen to them and attend to their demands. Threatening people who are demanding decent housing with fines of thousands of euros is an intolerable display of political insensitivity," says Roger.
The young socialists also reject any attempt to discredit the people participating in the protest through labels and prejudices. "No matter how much the Popular Party tries to caricature this mobilization, there are families, young people, and workers there who are expressing themselves peacefully. They are people who are giving voice to an unbearable reality: Lanzarote cannot endure this critical housing situation for another minute," he affirms.
From Socialist Youth, they recall that the difficulties in accessing housing condition the lives of young people, delay their emancipation, and force many people to give up developing their life project on the island or to go away to study.
"There are people who work and still cannot pay rent. There are families who live with the anguish of not knowing if they will be able to stay in their homes. Pretending to discredit those who denounce this situation shows a profound disconnection with what citizens are experiencing," Roger maintains.
Although the city council invokes municipal ordinances to prevent the protest from continuing in its current format, Socialist Youth demands political will to facilitate peaceful protest and avoid an escalation of sanctions.
"We demand that Yonathan de León abandon the threats of fines and eviction and sit down to listen. Removing a few tents will not make the housing emergency disappear. His responsibility is to offer answers to those who are demanding something as basic as a place to live," Roger concludes.
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