The Getafe City Council has installed a swarm of iron fences in the town's Plaza del Beso to prevent several homeless people from sleeping in arcades located under several blocks of flats.

The initiative is due to the unsanitary problems that these marginalized people were generating

, according to a spokesman for the Consistory governed by PSOE and Podemos.

As a result of the placement of these obstacles, the homeless have moved to a nearby area, the Plaza de París, where there is a children's playground and several shops in which the new neighbors are not welcomed either.

The installation of the yellow fences in the center of Getafe, about 200 meters long, has sparked controversy and protests from the PP, which has baptized the framework against

the "fence of shame

."

Residents, however, are divided.

Some applaud these barriers and others condemn them and ask that they be removed as soon as possible.

"

Living with this group of people was very bad

," said one of the building's tenants.

“They relieved themselves at the door of our houses and it was an unpleasant problem, although they are harmless.

They had even brought mattresses and cooked there,” Germán, a neighbor of the square, recounted yesterday.

For Isabel, a 71-year-old woman, the scenario was terrifying: «They hardly let me walk down the street and it smelled quite bad.

They also bathed in the fountain and washed their clothes there.

The arcades where the beggars slept before placing the fences.EM

Another of the inhabitants, on the other hand, was very upset yesterday with the fences.

"It's horrible," Carlos stressed.

«They could have done anything else, except install that in the arcades.

On top of that they are ugly.

When people have come to my house they have asked me the reason and when they answered they did not believe it, "added Carlos.

"Surely there will be other ways to expel the homeless from the area other than

using these unsightly fences

," said another person who assures that these obstacles have been installed for several days.

"They can't always put on, they block the way and, on top of that, there are times that they jump and sneak between the fences," added another neighbor, who assures that another alternative should be given to these people in vulnerable situations.

The Getafe City Council assures that the placement of these barriers is a provisional measure, due to the "unsanitary" problems that these homeless people were causing.

It adds that from the Department of Social Services of the Consistory

they have been offered different alternatives on several occasions that have been rejected by these people at risk

.

He also points out that from the City Council there are several initiatives to avoid situations such as those suffered by the homeless who "are not residents of Getafe."

Antonio José Mesa, PP councilor in the Getafe City Council and candidate for the next elections, reiterated yesterday that this is not the solution for homeless individuals.

"

The mayoress of Getafe must have other dignified and effective solutions for problems of this sensitivity

," said Mesa.

According to the PP, the Getafe City Council does not comply with investment in social policies:.

“We are among the poorest municipalities in this chapter, according to a recent study.

Only 52 euros are allocated per neighbor when in other towns they reach 200, "says Mesa.

The Consistory denies these complaints and defends that social policies are one of its priorities.

The homeless, all foreigners, explained yesterday that they do not want to leave and stay in shelters.

"Here we are fine," they said.

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