Illegal homes along the Cantabrian coast to be demolished today

The first illegal houses which had been ordered to be demolished by the courts 15 years ago started to be knocked down today. The buildings which are located in the area La playa de La Arena de Arnuero began to be demolished at 7 am this morning.

The buildings which are being knocked down belong to the second phase of the housing development of la playa de la Arena which has 144 apartments in total all of which have been ordered to be knocked down for being illegal under Spanish law.

Although the demolition work is now underway a small group of protestors has gathered at the site wearing yellow t-shirts with the slogan ‘vicitims’ written on them with banners reading ‘144 families – victims of the building mafia’.

The demolition work on the buildings is taking place 15 years after a judge first ordered them to be knocked down. Following this date around a thousand houses have been declared illegal by courts around Spain.