More than a dozen owners and some of the workers of the premises located from number 20 of carrer d’Enmig, in the port of Ibiza, denounce the lack of security in their area. For the past week or so, they have been concerned about the presence of a group of between five and seven young people who, in addition to taking advantage of areas outside their premises when they are closed to use drugs, have threatened to kill them if they are not given money to buy drugsothis is no longer Ibiza peace and love, this looks like the Bronx in New York,” comments one affected woman. The shopkeepers assure that, despite the fact that the individuals go in groups, especially one of them is very confrontational: “He is not afraid of anyone, he says he has nothing to lose”.
This subject confronted some of the owners last Friday, even causing serious injuries to the face and head to two of them. Prior to this incident, last Tuesday, May 28, between 4:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., the following occurred a robbery in a clothing store located at the end of the street. The total amount of material stolen is valued at around 2,000 euros, according to the complaint filed at the National Police station in Ibiza. The concern of the owners is that, the next day, they did not notice the theft until they entered the store: “We opened without any problem, nothing had been forced,” they say. The thieves were able to elude the two large padlocks that closed two iron bars blocking the door.
The bars and padlocks that the thieves circumvented / Dani Espinosa
At the time of the incident, the establishment did not have security cameras but, according to those affected, they suspect the group, as they had been roaming the area since one o’clock in the morning and appeared in the recordings of the adjoining stores on several occasions late at night.
The recordings of the security cameras show different nights in which people can be seen urinating or defecating in the corners of some stores, and even consuming crack, according to the complainants.
The owners also have a video in which the young man appears hitting with an iron bar to another individual of his gang, in broad daylight, on the corner that joins the carrer d’Enmig with Josep Verdera. These events took place last Friday morning.
A bottle of beer
The aggressor who appears in the above images is the same one involved in the fight against two shopkeepers, which took place on the same Friday before midnight. As stated in the complaint filed by one of the injured parties in the duty court of Ibiza, after seeing that the individual was trying to steal in an establishment, the two shopkeepers ran after him and he took a bottle of beer and went against one of the individualsand cut him twice in the head. The wounded man was treated by the ambulance and later transferred to the Policlínica Nuestra Señora del Rosario, where the cuts were sutured with 16 stitches. The other merchant also received blows to the nose and had a gash that required six stitches.
One of the injured, with six stitches in his forehead / Dani Espinosa
Another of the wounded, with 16 stitches in the head. / D.I
The attacker was arrested at the time but, as the shopkeepers point out, he is again at large: “A few days ago he was caught trying to steal inside one of the apartments on this street,” they relate.
To protect themselves and their establishments, one of the merchants has been forced to hire security personnelfor which he pays “300 euros a night”, an amount that he assures that he will not be able to “pay forever”. Together with others affected, he shows his dissatisfaction, since the group began to act, with the various complaints filed, have requested an increased police presence on Enmig street. In addition, traders require increased cleaning of the road where their businesses are located: “We have cleaning service once a week,” they complain. But in addition, every morning they must thoroughly clean the area, which some use at night to urinate or defecate: “It looks like a public toilet in the street,” laments a woman. They also point out that “there is not a single litter garbage can along the street”. For traders, the deterioration of the road began with the pandemic of covid, which led to the closure of 17 businesses: “So. it was finished abandoning the place,” they criticize.
Safety measures
The fear felt by some traders is explained by assuring that they stay inside their establishments until five or six o’clock in the morningfor some of them, it’s not just a store, it’s also the studio where we make clothes. Others even live here,” says one victim, before another adds: “What scares me is that this situation will kill my job and my way of living and feeding my family.
Alley that until a few days ago joined carrer d’Enmig with carrer de la Virgen / Dani Espinosa
There are businesses that have been operating for more than 30 years in the carrer d’Enmig and have had no choice but to learn to coexist with drug use and confront some of the thieves. On most occasions, as they detail, the group accessed with ease and fled through the alley that until two days ago joined the carrer d’Enmig, at the height of number 28, with that of the Virgin, as shown in the image above.
Alley walling / D.I
Last Wednesday, following statements made by those affected to this newspaper, the walling up of the alley began, as was done years ago with the one located at the height of number 40. A spokeswoman for the City Council of Ibiza indicates that it has decided to take this measure “to improve the safety of the area”. This is a request that those affected made to the previous government team, as they recall, and that Vila has now made reality: “According to our intention to ensure the safety of Ibiza and be on the side of the neighbors when they need it most,” says the municipal spokeswoman.