The windmills of Es Jonquet, where noise is a major issue for the residents. | Joan Torres

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Es Jonquet is one of the areas of Palma which suffers most from noise, in particular that generated by the so-called "tardeo". Residents have had enough of this and are demanding greater police presence. At present, they say, police are not to be seen.

Magdalena Morales, one of the residents, has lived for fifty years by the square that is the centre for the tardeo. "The police don't come. We don't see them and we've stopped ringing them because they say they are busy." The noise, she says, is constant. "From ten at night, when the tardeo bars close, to midnight when they reopen and then at six in the morning when they close again." She adds that people drink, shout, urinate and have broken pots by the door of her house.

The area was declared a special protection zone but this, she maintains, hasn't changed or improved anything. Posters saying that is such a zone - which is supposed to mean close police vigilance against behaviour such as street drinking - are ignored. Another resident, Toni Sorell, confirms that the declaration has made no difference, despite the threats of fines up to 3,000 euros for drinking in the street.

There is mess all over the street, he says, and the police do not act. The problem, he explains, is that people enter and leave bars and drink in the streets and shout, urinate and have sex. The saddest thing, he observes, is that the police acknowledge they don't have the staff. The town hall, he suggests, isn't providing them.