Malaga residents clean up local school while protesting 'our streets are filled with dog mess and the smell of urine'

Residents of the Miraflores neighbourhood in Malaga have taken a fresh step in their protest against the lack of infrastructure maintenance measures and urged the city council to pay more attention to their needs. After having stood at the doors of the city hall to demand improvements without receiving the expected response, they have now gone back to the streets to clean them themselves, in a joint act of protest and community spirit.

The locals have complained of an accumulation of dog and human urine and excrement on the streets. They have also undertaken steps to clean a local school. The Miraflores residents were joined by those of other neighbourhoods: Camino Suárez, Victoria Eugenia, La Bresca and Miraflores de los Ángeles.

Local association 'Proyecto Dignidad para Miraflores de los Ángeles', which consists of 150 members, blames Malaga city council for the "lack of attention". "This is institutional neglect," the members say, adding that their protests and letters have not been enough to motivate municipal action. For this reason, they have decided to visibly demonstrate their intolerance to the state of their residential areas.

Association member Miguel Jiménez listed some of the complaints and demands that the residents are announcing by placing banners all over the neighbourhood: "We live in very aggressive urban conditions; we have no sports court with free access; we witness fights and violence in the street; there is agglomeration of dirt; in all the streets you find urine and poo not only from dogs, but also from people; we have about 15 people living on our streets in subhuman conditions; access to the Arroyo de los Ángeles is totally limited with walls that prevent access... And this is something that happens in all the areas of the city."

In addition, the association denounced its belief that big urban development projects take preference over public hygiene and the locals' well-being. While the city centre shines, residential areas stink and accumulate dirt. Social inequality has a smell, it turns out. "Malaga, everyone's Malaga, cannot be built from selective disinvestment or from oblivion," the association stated.