Tents under Manrique's pergolas: Arrecife is camping out over housing

Under the pergolas of the Parque José Ramírez Cerdá in Arrecife there have been tents for a few days now. They are not tourists': this is a protest camp, and it is there to say one thing, the thing the island has been repeating for years without much changing: on Lanzarote, housing has become unreachable.

It is run by the Comisión La Casa de Todos y Todas. Dozens of people, of very different ages, backed by community groups and trade unions.

The pergolas are not a detail

Those structures were designed by César Manrique. It would be hard to find a more eloquent place to protest about how people live on this island than the shade built by the man who, more than anyone, decided how this island should be looked at.

The park sits beside the Quiosco de la Música and the UNED — in other words, right in the daily flow of Arrecife. This is not a hidden picket.

What they are asking for

The camp's own words: «Housing cannot go on being a privilege. It is a fundamental right».

The rest is the picture anyone living here knows: rents above what an island wage can carry, families crowded together because there is no alternative, people who at thirty still cannot leave their parents' house, and property speculation that bites harder here, where land is scarce and the demand comes from outside.

You can drop in

The camp is not closed off: the pergolas host working groups and there are daily assemblies. There is one every evening at 20:00, in the park. That is where they coordinate the coming days.

Whether or not you share their methods, it is the place where Arrecife is right now arguing about the thing that weighs most on the lives of the people who live here.