Palma City Council confirmed yesterday, come the weekend, 23 of the 45 properties earmarked for demolition on the Son Banya shanty town on the outskirts of the capital, will have been demolished.
The final three are being knocked down this week and no resistance was put up by the inhabitants because demolition teams, escorted by the police as usual, found the properties empty.
Two of the families have been given social housing while the third will have to await the decisions of the courts.
Water and electricity supplies to the properties were cut off earlier this week as a warning to the inhabitants that demolition was imminent.
The move to finally knock down Son Banya, which was the epicentre of the island’s drugs trade, has been controversial. Initially, all of the residents were given assurances that they would be rehoused within the municipality of Palma.
However, since demolition work began a few months ago, a number of families have been relocated to areas outside of Palma, such as Campos, for example, where there has been a great deal of resentment from local residents who have objected to families from Son Banya being moved into their community.