Charity organiser sanctioned for donating food without permission during Coronavirus quarantine on Spanish island Ibiza

Charity organiser sanctioned for donating food without permission during Coronavirus quarantine on Spanish island Ibiza.

TWO officers of the Cuerpo Nacional de Policía appeared last Saturday to sanction a promoter of a food charity, known as Cristóbal, who is the spokesman for a platform on Facebook called, ‘La Voz de Los Que Nadie Quiere Escuchar. Personas sin Techo en Ibiza’; who have been providing food and basic necessities for over five years to the island’s homeless.
“They told me that sadly for them and for us they had an order to inform me that they could not continue doing the activity we were doing or we would be sanctioned,” says Cristóbal, who until now carried out his work from the door of his house, but after the increase of the demand and the donations he moved to empty premises in the heart of the city of Ibiza.
On Sunday morning they reopened their doors and received the report that they were sanctioned for: ‘Delivering food without administrative authorisation.’
Between Friday and Sunday, more than 200 people received food from the hands of this volunteer organisation, born from social networks. Among them “many families in charge of minor children,” explains Cristóbal, who despite a sanction plans to continue.
“We respect and comply with all safety regulations, as supermarkets and other organisations that deliver and sell food can do,” explains Cristóbal. All the volunteers wear identification vests, gloves and masks. They check that in the queues the safety distance is respected and, if someone does not wear gloves, they are provided at the entrance to take the products they need. Neither can more than three people enter the premises at the same time.
“Some like me are willing to be detained if the heads of the institutions consider that feeding those who do not have it is illegal,” warns Cristóbal.
Residents from the area have also shown their solidarity with the organisation through social networks. Cáritas, who also carries out this work on the island, has seen its demand tripled since the Coronavirus appeared. The NGO decided to expand the food delivery service in the face of strong demand. About 220 people approach the facility each week and the number is expected to increase in the coming days.