Málaga clears shacks from Guadalmedina walkways. Council had cited rain risk

Makeshift shacks that appeared on the wooden walkways at the mouth of the Guadalmedina river in Málaga city have been dismantled, according to Diario Sur and its English edition, SUR in English. The clearance took place early on Friday and matters to residents who walk or live near the riverside, as well as to the people who had been sheltering there.

Key facts

• Where: the wooden walkways on both banks of the final stretch of the Guadalmedina, near the MuCAC art centre and Calle Cuarteles.
• Who: two Local Police patrols plus several vehicles and staff from the municipal cleaning company Limasam.
• When: early on Friday morning, according to Diario Sur.
• Why now: complaints from neighbours and passers-by, and the risk posed by rain linked to storm Charles.
• Support: the council's social rights department was offering help to find alternatives, according to municipal sources.

Shacks on rotten boards

Diario Sur reported that the shacks had surprised many locals in recent days. Until now, it said, such settlements were usually found beneath the bridges that cross the river bed, and it was less usual to see them on the walkways that mark the river's end.

The newspaper described the site as extremely damp and dangerous, with a wooden floor in which many planks were broken or rotten. It added that social services already knew where the occupants were, and that they had set aside open-air spaces to lay out and sort their belongings and scrap.

The newspaper also described the wider river bed as being in a poor state in the city centre, with bad smells, rubbish, graffiti and poorly maintained furniture. It noted that the long-awaited overall work on the channel is still pending, although projects for the so-called bridge-plazas (puentes-plaza) are now moving forward.

The council's plan and the weather

After Diario Sur contacted Málaga city council (ayuntamiento), the council confirmed it was preparing a joint operation by the Local Police and Limasam to dismantle the shacks. Municipal sources said the police were already aware of the people in the river bed and that a crane lorry would lift the materials out from the Pasillo del Matadero.

The council's sources were quoted as saying: "Before removing the materials, the occupants will be given prior notice so that they can collect their belongings." They added that the social rights department was offering help to find other options.

Diario Sur said the operation gained urgency because of the orange rain warning linked to storm Charles. Municipal services had been telling the occupants about the risk and urging them to leave, but on Thursday morning the newspaper saw the settlements still in place.

The council also said its Street Unit (Unidad de Calle), working with Civil Protection, routinely visits the most vulnerable places where homeless people may be, such as streams and the undersides of bridges, to warn them of rain and offer access to a municipal service. Diario Sur added that routine maintenance of the bottom drains of the El Limonero reservoir takes place on the first Wednesday of each month and occasionally after heavy storms.

Mixed response to help

Diario Sur reported that people living in the river bed have historically reacted unevenly to municipal assistance. Some go to Puerta Única, the council's one-stop service, for paperwork or intercultural mediation, and some even use the Municipal Reception Centre (CAM) while avoiding hostels. Others, it said, systematically decline any social help.

The papers did not say how many structures were removed or how many people had been living there.

What it means

The council describes this kind of clearance as a recurring procedure, and the case shows how rain warnings and complaints about conditions along the river bed can trigger it. Anyone concerned about someone sleeping rough in the city can check the council's social services channels, including the Street Unit and Puerta Única mentioned in the reports.