Getxo Municipal Police officers recriminate to a baserritarra the "unauthorised" sale of vegetables in the plaza
- In summer, the baserritarra has been selling products from the orchard since 2011. In 2013 and 2018 he was threatened by the Municipal Police, but it is the first time that the products are brought to the area. The following morning painting appeared at the Itzubaltzeta House of Culture (Getxo): “Benlet pass.”
On Monday afternoon, as every week during the summer season, a baserritart selling vegetable garden products on the stands of the church of Itzubaltzeta “making a blessing”. The Municipal Police has been on the spot and has requested the withdrawal of the post, alleging that it has no authorization. The baserritarra says no, she's been doing the same thing for eight years. Finally, the agents have personaged themselves in the police cars, where they have introduced one by one the boxes of vegetables to exasperate the rage of the baserritarra.
It is not the first time that there has been a war after which an armed conflict broke out. In 2013, the municipal agents wanted to expel the baserritarra from the supports of the church. During the next five years there was no problem, but last year it came back. On Monday, August 27, the Municipal Police ordered the baserritarra to withdraw the job. The farmer did so because he had already sold almost all the product. But he announced that next Monday he would put the post back. The Agroasanblada of Uribe Kosta, to which the baserritarra belongs, appealed to the citizens to support the baserritarra approaching the post. On Monday, 3 September, quite a few citizens appeared and there were no police officers. But the next Monday, 10 September, the situation was repeated. The local police then tried to take the vegetables. At last the peasant spoke on the phone with the police chief and everything ended without fines or requisitions. It was the last day of summer. This year, Zaharrean berri.
Old custom
The sale of the small harvest of the farmhouse on the street has been common in the villages for many years, and still very rarely. As far as Getxo is concerned, until 2007, several women came for sale. After a few years of absence, in 2011 the baserritarra Peio Fuente revived the tradition of the house. After the first problems with the City Hall and the municipal agents, a collection of signatures was started in Itzubaltzeta requesting authorization of the sale. 400 citizens and 60 merchants signed the contract.
They handed over the signatures to the city hall: “We were also meeting the councillors. We were told that it was a street sale and that it could not be authorised. However, they said that, if a project was prepared in this regard, it would be studied. We did, but we haven’t received a response yet,” said the baserritarra Fuente to Hiruka in mid-September 2018. The conflict is still open.
