He denounces that he was stoned while doing recycling work next to the municipal deposit
Paco has the idea of abandoning the municipal belongings container where he stays twelve hours a day, tidying it up and cleaning the area. The scrap-recycler is responsible for taking care of the environment of the deposit and for this work they are allowed to disembowel appliances, furniture or any piece to extract the metal to sell it. «A day I can earn between 10 and 15 euros selling the material to reuse it. That gives me to eat.” However, the situation there has become unsustainable and dangerous for his integrity due to continuous clashes with other junk dealers.
A month ago he reported that a group of three people had attacked him with sticks. The trial for that attack is still pending. Now, he recounts that last week they stoned him. «He was sitting on a sidewalk, dismantling a computer, removing the screws and cables, when I received a stone in the face. I started bleeding and it took me ten minutes to recover. By two centimeters I did not lose an eye. I couldn’t see who threw it, but I know it was one of the junkmen in town who want me to leave so they can stay here. And they are succeeding, because one of these days they kill me ».
In addition to the attacks, Paco is also the victim of robberies and continuous threats. “They take away what little I have.” Two weeks ago they stole three beach chairs that a neighbor had given him when he went to the dumpster. A man showed up there and threatened to hit him “two smacks if he made a fool of me” and took the chairs. “I told him that dedicating himself to stealing the misery of others and hitting older people was for brave people,” he ironically.
Some residents of El Palmar are following the situation that Paco is facing with concern and are calling for the work he is doing there to be formalized. “One day a misfortune can happen, because you lack security. He does a commendable job, recycling usable material that does not cost the City Council a single euro. And if Paco leaves, there is no container. This is what those responsible for waste management have said, since if there is no cleaning or there are items outside the deposit, it is removed. And without a container, the area will once again become a huge rubbish dump, as it used to be,” laments Javier Costas, a local resident.
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