Forced eviction of 1000 Roma in Spain
05 September 1999
According to the Spanish press, at 7:00 AM on July 8, 1999, fifty police officers evicted approximately 100 Romanian Romani families comprising approximately 1000 individuals from the Malmea area in the Fuencarral District of Madrid, where they had been living. Employees of the municipality, some of whom were driving bulldozers, also took part in the eviction. During the raid, police officers destroyed the makeshift housing in which the Roma had been living. The expelled Roma were reportedly not given time to gather their belongings. Many were forced to abandon their possessions.
Virtually all of the Roma concerned were seeking asylum in Spain. Their initial applications had been rejected and appeal procedures were underway. The Spanish authorities had not provided adequate shelter or social support, therefore forcing the Roma to live in deplorable conditions while their appeals were heard.
According to ERRC research, the Roma living in Malmea had not previously been informed that they would be evicted. According to press reports, Mr Pedro Nunez Morgades, a representative of the Madrid municipality, the families "knew they had to go away". The Spanish daily El Pais reported on July 9 that police sources stated that the Roma living in Malmea had been told that they should leave Madrid or they would be expelled from Spain. The Madrid municipality maintains that the Roma living in Malmea left "voluntarily". According to the same issue of El Pais, Ms Maria Tardon, competent for Security Affairs within the Madrid City Administration, stated on July 10 that the raid had been a "garbage collection action" and that "marginal groups cannot be permitted to disturb the public order and to create health problems."
One group of approximately 120 Roma expelled from Malmea reportedly fled north. At a petrol station approximately sixty kilometres outside Madrid, on the evening of July 8, a five-year-old Romani boy named Samuel Paun was hit and killed by a truck. According to press reports, the body of the victim was repatriated to Romania the following day along with members of his family. City officials dismissed media efforts to link the death of Samuel Paun to his eviction earlier the same day as "demagogy".
According to the July 10 edition of the Spanish daily El Mundo, hundreds of Roma, including pregnant women, newborn babies and the elderly, spent two nights sleeping on the streets and in various parks in Madrid. Spanish non-governmental organisations told El Mundo that members of the group were suffering from hunger, dehydration and a number of children had chicken pox.
By July 11, authorities had erected tents in an industrial area outside Madrid, along the road to San Roque. Authorities reportedly registered 280 individuals for the site, but refused to continue registering people at a point when many evicted Roma continued to arrive. Authorities stated that they intended to settle the evicted Roma in four or five smaller groups outside the Madrid city limits. However, locals in Villaverde, one of the reported planned sites, stated their intention to block the arrival of any of the displaced Roma.
On July 21, Mr Jaime Major Oreja, Interior Minister of Spain, answered parliamentary queries concerning the eviction of the Malmea Roma in the Spanish Chamber of Deputies. He reportedly reaffirmed that the municipal raid and eviction of July 8 had been a "cleaning action". He stated that the 280 Roma presently accommodated on the San Roque road were to be separated and relocated to four or five places. Minister Oreja reportedly stated that the Roma on the San Roque Road were "better off" than they had been in Malmea. He made no comment on the fate of the approximately seven hundred evicted Roma who were not staying on the San Roque Road.
On July 21, the ERRC visited the San Roque Road settlement to document the situation of Roma living there. The ERRC noted that there were four tents with approximately 20-25 beds per tent; the tents were severely overcrowded. At least forty Roma present had not been registered at the site by authorities and were not entitled to housing in the tents. There was only one source of water at the site. During the entire time they had been on the site, the Roma living there had reportedly been provided with one kilo of milk and two boxes of biscuits per family, as well as two diapers per child. At the time of the ERRC visit, children were suffering from skin rashes as a result of the failure to provide enough diapers and the lack of adequate sanitary facilities. Many also suffered from serious sunburns. The Roma stated that they had been unable to cook at the site, since they had abandoned their cooking utensils in Malmea. The Roma had reportedly been promised medical service, but there was no such service there. The only officials present were two police officers and, according to local Roma they were on 24-hour guard there. The site was entirely without public transport into Madrid, arousing suspicions that the Roma might face difficulties attending appeal hearings in asylum cases. According to ERRC information, as of July 21, Roma from Malmea not located on the San Roque Road were dispersed in various places around Spain; some remained in Madrid. These Roma were not being provided for in any way by authorities.
(ERRC, El Mundo, El Pais)
