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INSIDE SPAIN

Inside Spain: Suicide before eviction and the bull debate

In this week’s Inside Spain we look at how the suicide of two sisters who were about to be evicted from their home has angered Spanish society, and how animal cruelty is back in the news as Pamplona’s running of the bull festival kicks off. 

Published: 6 July 2024 14:18 CEST
Inside Spain: Suicide before eviction and the bull debate
Pro-animal rights activists of Anima Naturalis and PETA organizations hold signs reading "Stop the torture, end bullfighting" during a protest against bullfighting and bull-running on the eve of the San Fermín festivities. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA / AFP)

Two sisters, aged 54 and 64, took their own lives on Monday in the Barcelona neighbourhood of Sant Andreu, just hours before they were due to be evicted from the flat they’d been living in for most of their lives.  

They owed more than €9,000 in rent after stopping monthly payments in March 2021. It’s since emerged that their mother contracted Covid-19 and died that month, reportedly leaving the sisters without any financial resources. 

Some 300 people gathered in Barcelona on Tuesday in protest against the double suicide, with organisers stating that “these are not suicides, they are murders”.

Another Catalonia resident, Alex (70), took his own life this year in the city of Sabadell earlier in 2024. 

For Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni, the sisters’ suicide represents “the hardest and most dramatic side” of the problems of access to housing in Barcelona.

Spain’s Parliament recently approved the suspension of evictions (desahucios in Spanish) of vulnerable families until 2028, but somehow the Sant Andreu sisters, who were known among neighbours for living a private life, fell between the cracks. 

Their tragic death showcases how not all people who fail to pay their rent in Spain are squatters (okupas) who are capitalising on the system’s loopholes. 

The lines are indeed blurred, and in the current context of rising rents and an enormous lack of social housing in Spain, there are many people who are struggling and simply cannot afford their rent or mortgages, rather than purposely choosing not to pay.

READ ALSO: Inquiokupas – The type of squatter homeowners in Spain fear most

In other news, animal rights groups PETA and AnimaNaturalis on Friday staged a protest in Pamplona against the “mediaeval cruelty” of the San Fermín running of the bull festival, which kicks off on Saturday.

Around fifty activists wearing horns on their heads and mediaeval stocks over their shoulders marched through the streets of the Navarran city to illustrate their opposition. 

Their messages reflect that not everyone in Spain (and certainly even less so overseas) is in favour of the bull-themed event, which includes both bull runs and bull fights. 

According to AnimaNaturalis, some 17,000 local festivals in Spain include some form of animal cruelty.

In their eyes, San Fermín, an event known around the world, normalises the mistreatment of animals. 

The question of whether such festivals are “tradition” or “torture” is by no means new, and yet not much has really has been done in modern-day Spain to bring these practices in line with the policies of a progressive government. 

Ask any Pamplonika (local of Pamplona) if they think that the encierros (bull runs) are cruel and they’re likely to deny it, as not only have they grown up with the running of the bull, they will argue that the animal is not physically hurt. 

An animal activist on the other hand will point out that bulls can feel claustrophobia, fear and panic when running down narrow streets surrounded by hundreds of humans. 

Whatever one’s view, there’s clearly a need for consensus, and for at least “traditions” that clearly cause animals pain and/or death to be banned. 

Take the Toro de La Vega, which saw a whole town chase down a single bull with spears with which to stab it to death; a barbaric act that was banned in 2022. 

The mother of all taboos is of course bullfighting itself, something as stereotypically Spanish as it gets, but so attached to the fabric of some corners of Spanish society that most politicians feel the need to tread carefully when broaching the subject.

IN DEPTH: Will bullfighting ever be banned in Spain?

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INSIDE SPAIN

Inside Spain: Flirting in Mercadona and the weirdest tourism protest yet

In this week’s Inside Spain we look at the new viral trend involving flirting at Mercadona supermarkets and how a village in Galicia has found a very odd way of protesting against mass tourism.

Published: 31 August 2024 10:54 CEST
Inside Spain: Flirting in Mercadona and the weirdest tourism protest yet

If you live in Spain or have been here on holiday, there’s a very big chance you’ve done grocery shopping at Mercadona.

But did you know there’s ‘a time to flirt’ at the country’s most popular supermarket?

It all started with a TikTok video that’s gone viral (although if there was someone in Mercadona’s marketing department that came up with the campaign they should definitely get a bonus). 

Everybody in Spain is talking about it. The idea is that if you turn up at a Mercadona between 7pm and 8pm, that’s la hora de ligar (the time to flirt), and there’s a secret language of love as well. 

Putting a pineapple upside down in your shopping trolley means that you’re ‘available’ and ‘interested’. 

Then you have to head to the wine aisle, and if you spot someone you like, you have to bump your trolley against theirs. 

That’s what singletons 40 and up should do if interested in amor de Hacendado (love of Hacendado, Mercadona’s home brand).

For those aged 19 to 25, the frozen goods section is the place to meet prospective lovers.

In your thirties or mid-twenties? The fresh fish section, of course. 

It all may seem a bit silly, but we wouldn’t be surprised if pineapple sales go up exponentially in Spain and Mercadona’s turnover spikes as a result.

In fact, there are already videos circulating online of packed Mercadona supermarkets when the clock strikes seven. 

In completely different news but perhaps just as surreal, locals from the Galician village of O Hío in northwest Spain decided recently that the best way to protest against the volume of summer tourists they receive was by blocking zebra crossings. 

The idea involved choosing crossings where pedestrians always have right of way (no traffic lights), so several dozen locals simply walked up and down them for 37 minutes, causing a total traffic gridlock.

“Traffic problems are already common, but this year they have tripled at least. It’s an avalanche of cars that not only pollutes but also affects everyone’s lives because they park wherever they want,” O Hío resident Mercedes Villar told local daily La Voz de Galicia.

“We have the right to live too”.

People from this small coastal village in Pontevedra province say they’re not against tourists, but that authorities have to find a way for holidaymakers and residents to “coexist”.

Locals’ driveways are being blocked, yellow lines are ignored and traffic accidents are more common.

“The protest was meant to raise awareness and sound the alarm,” another villager told La Voz.

“We want people to be civil and understanding and if they see that there is no parking space, to leave, as we all have to do in any city”. 

2024 is proving to be the year of Spain’s rebellion against mass tourism and the effect it’s having on property prices, rents and standard of living for residents. 

From Cantabria in the north to Málaga in the south, more and more places in Spain are asking for local, regional and national governments to fix a tourism model that no longer works for them.

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