Yzabelle Bostyn
A ROW has broken out between expats after hundreds of migrants were moved into a quiet Costa del Sol town ‘overnight’.
It came after residents told of their shock that neither the Junta, nor Benahavis town hall, were warned of the arrival of 360 migrants.
The group, who have been put up in the four star Hotel Oh Nice Caledonia, in Bel Air, are being put up ‘temporarily’ while they get assigned other places to live.
While stressing there have been no incidents – nor a rise in crime, as some local media have suggested – residents are angry nobody was consulted.
Dutch immigrant Jeroen Reiddel, 52, told the Olive Press he was concerned for his elderly stepmother and wife, saying: “This is a residential neighbourhood, it’s no place to drop almost 400 people.
“There are always a few bad apples so I don’t want my loved ones walking alone at night. In the same way, I wouldn’t advise my wife to walk through Puerto Banus at 4am,” he added.
“It’s nothing to do with race, it’s pack mentality. People act differently in groups no matter what.”
His views were backed up by community president Macarena Perez, who explained that residents are ‘not worried because they are racist’. “But because no one told them anything.”
She added: “When you suddenly see strangers walking through your quiet urbanisation it raises fears and doubts.
“There isn’t much light here and the roads are bad…we’re just not ready to absorb that many people.”
However, former Bel Air resident Mary Page, 81, who now lives in nearby Estepona, disagreed, labelling complaints as ‘ignorant’.
“If the migrants were white there would be no issues whatsoever,” she said.
“They didn’t come here on flimsy boats to attack rich white women. In fact, when I lived there the white holidaymakers were a huge nuisance, getting drunk and causing chaos.”
The migrants, from Mali, Senegal and Gambia among other countries, arrived during the night on January 12.
They had been transported from the Canary Islands after making the perilous journey to Spain.
“We don’t even know which NGO is responsible for them. If we did we would be delighted to help,” Perez added.
A Junta spokesperson told the Olive Press: “We need transparency and coordination from the government. We want to help but it’s impossible without communication.”
Migrant Amadou Dia, 30, confirmed local residents have been treating them ‘well’.
“The conditions are great. I eat well and sleep well,” he said, explaining he had left his wife and two children in Senegal, after a neighbour tried to ‘kill him’ and steal his farm.
He ‘spent weeks’ travelling to Spain, adding he had studied English at college for two years.
“I am prepared to any sort of work I can get,” he added.
Resident Raquel Sanchez told the Olive Press there have been ‘no problems’ and all the migrants do is ‘play basketball and wander around’. Most residents we consulted agreed.
The hotel is a temporary stop and locals have been told they will be moved to other areas of Spain by April.
Benahavis Town Hall declined to comment.
Shame on those entitled bigots. Those poor people have been through hell and are being met with anything but kindness. What happened to common decency?
Saying that the vast majority of people we spoke to were very supportive AND I think the points raised by concerned locals are reasonable.
It actually now seems that the local urbanization has finally paid for better street lighting so in a way that’s thanks to the migrants. Ironic.
Entitled bigots? It is always funny how people are quick to throw shade when chances are they did not spend their hard-earned money on purchasing a property next to this location. Also, there is a 99% chance that they have not volunteered to take in and help settle those “poor people” into their own homes and communities. Also, the context should be that while the government does not seem to have any issues showering these able-bodied “of fighting age men” with clothes, food, and luxury accommodations, they have done nothing to prepare the local residents for this influx and continue to do nothing after the fact. While returning illegal immigrants to their home countries should be a priority, ensuring the safety and well-being of tax-paying residents should be an even higher priority, and while upgrading lighting to improve security as a result of this forced habitation, the fact that the residents have to fund it and not the junta is ironic.