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Residents in one Malaga neighbourhood have taken matters into their own hands after what they describe as years of being ignored by the local authorities.

 

Armed with buckets, brushes and, as they put it, “civic courage,” around fifteen neighbours gathered outside the Miraflores de los Ángeles Infant and Primary School to clean the filthy pavement by hand. The action, they insisted, “was not a voluntary action, but a direct protest against what they describe as the institutional abandonment of working-class neighbourhoods by the City Council.”

 

This unusual protest, led by the local group 'Project Dignity for Miraflores de los Ángeles,' was aimed at drawing attention to the conditions in areas such as Camino Suárez, Victoria Eugenia, La Bresca and Miraflores itself. Their complaint is simple: while the city’s central zones are kept spotless, their own streets are often neglected.

 

One neighbour put it plainly as she scrubbed the school entrance: “This isn’t just filth, this is contempt.” The group claimed the pavement had been stained with urine, gum and “other organic debris,” leaving the school’s front doors in a disgraceful state.

 

The protest wasn’t just about one location. It was intended as a broader message to the city’s leaders, who the group accuse of prioritising tourist areas over residential ones. “In residential areas the bins overflow and the streets stink,” a spokesperson said. “Urban social inequality can be smelt, literally.”

 

Having lost faith in their district councillor, the group say they are now taking their message straight to the mayor. “Writing letters is no longer enough. We must act, and go further, in the form of physical, visible and forceful protests,” they said.

 

The image of locals scrubbing school steps with no official help, they added, “should embarrass any sensible administration.”

 

 

Image: congerdesign/Pixabay