Just days after Euro Weekly News asked where the local police had gone, Fuengirola residents are still waiting for answers. Many say visible officers remain scarce while everyday problems on the streets continue unchecked. Two situations in particular have left people feeling unsafe and at the end of their tether.

Naked man on the streets sparks hygiene and safety fears

Shopkeepers and neighbours in central Fuengirola have had enough of a homeless man who walks the streets naked or barely covered by a blanket. He is said to use streets and public benches as a toilet, leaves waste in the open and directs crude comments at women and girls passing by. Miriam, who runs a local business, told Spanish media the situation is “tedious,” especially for females. “He comes out with remarks he has no right to make,” she said. “People won’t come near the shop windows while he’s there.”

Paco, a father of two from Madrid who was visiting, put it bluntly to Euro Weekly News: “We won’t be coming here again next year. If this is what my children have to face, then it’s not suitable for my family.” Residents question why officers have not simply removed the man, cleaned him up, dressed him and taken him before a court for indecent exposure and public hygiene offences.

One local insisted: “All they need to do is take the man, hose him clean, dress him by force if necessary and take him to court. For the protection of the public and local businesses, as well as the image of Fuengirola’s tourism industry, he must be removed from obstructing public footpaths.”

Frustration boiled over when a middle-aged man threw a bucket of water over the individual as he sat on a bench. The clip spread quickly online and even made national Spanish news. Malaga’s Equipo de Atención a la Mujer (EAM) has now taken the water-throwing incident to the provincial “hate-crime” prosecutor’s office, arguing it could amount to aporophobia (hostility towards someone because of their poverty or homelessness). EAM is also asking Spanish data protection authorities to look at the online sharing of images showing the man naked and vulnerable.

At the same time the town hall says National Police and local officers are working to get the man off the streets. However, according to local residents, he’s still there. The police say he already has numerous fines from Policía Local, refuses help from social services despite having a place to go, and that current laws limit what can be done while he remains in a public space. The council has referred the ongoing disruption to the prosecutor and local court while urging people not to take matters into their own hands.

Late-night chaos at Parque España leaves families unable to sleep

A short walk away, near the well-known Parque España, another group of residents is equally exasperated. Dani, who lives with his parents close by, says most nights groups of young men, many of North African origin by reports, according to him, gather to play football and hang around. There is no clear evidence of serious crime (“petty”, yes), yet the shouting, swearing and occasional fights turn the area into a living hell after dark. “We feel abandoned here,” Dani said. “My parents are worried to go out after dark.” Neighbours have dialled the police repeatedly, sometimes at 3am, only to find no one arrives even though the local station is just metres away and the National Police station is not much further.

Council response fails to calm nerves

Fuengirola Council posted a photo of two officers on foot patrol on their Facebook page shortly after our earlier report on the missing police presence, yet residents insist little has changed on the ground. Earlier this year the council spoke positively about its “Policía de Cercanía” foot-patrol experiment and has announced extra officers in training. Many locals remain unconvinced that enough officers are actually out on the beat dealing with the day-to-day issues that affect families and businesses.

Similar complaints about motorhomes turning public spaces into unofficial campsites have also dragged on for years, showing a pattern of slow official responses to quality-of-life problems. For now, both the naked-man situation and the nightly noise at Parque España leave many asking the same question they posed two weeks ago: if the stations are so close, why does it still feel as though no one is coming when help is needed?