Summer has begun with the aggravation of a problem affecting Sitges and other towns with a high volume of visitors: illegal flea markets. The streets of our town were the target of organized crime groups responsible for illegal flea markets. The situation provoked a rebuke by shopkeepers and residents. The City Hall is aware of the problem and its negative effects (for shopkeepers, but also for the image of the municipality), and launched an action plan during July. Working together with Local Police and Mossos d'Esquadra, different operations allowed several arrests and seized a large part of the counterfeit material that was being sold illegally.
These actions have been constant throughout the summer and have managed, on one hand, to significantly reduce the presence of illegal vendors, and other, send direct messages to the mafia clans that hold the wires telling them that Sitges has Zero Tolerance for illegal flea markets. However, we must realize that police action will not remove this problem from our streets. Not enough. Similarly, neither local police nor the regional units of the Catalan police can devote themselves exclusively to this problem and ignore other security concerns.
Unfortunately, illegal flea markets are a complex and global phenomenon and, as such, requires complex and global solutions. Such practice is common in several countries of the European Union since the late nineties, and is concentrated in large cities and touristic coastal towns like Sitges.
The precarious living conditions in their home countries and the lack of job opportunities in host countries, have transformed illegal flea markets in emergency solutions to survive to a reality tougher than expected.
The institutions cannot accept the dramatic situation of some people as an excuse to perpetuate illegal flea markets. Illegal flea markets do not improve the quality of life of those who practice it, it’s against the law, fosters a bad image for the population and discriminates all traders who do pay their taxes. Only in Catalonia, the Confederation of Commerce has estimated the negative impact of illegal flea markets in more than 100 million Euros annually.
A grievance that calls for a more effective and decisive response that the one offered by the Spanish legal framework. Some national laws arrest peddlers a few hours to let them go home free the next day.
In this situation, the commitment of the City of Sitges is still just as strong as ever: cooperate with government and law enforcement agencies to eradicate illegal flea markets from the town, protect local businesses and ensure that people who are forced to perform this activity can choose other paths to a better future.
