My first Tot Sants (All Souls) here in Figueres, back in
November 2012, I did what I usually do on that holiday, I took myself to the
cemetery to take photos of all the flowers people were leaving at the tombs of
their loved ones. But on that Tot Sants the cemetery turned out to be not as
peaceful as cemeteries usually are. When I arrived the police had it cordoned
off. There had been a shooting inside and a man had been killed.
It was a drugs-related shooting. The man killed was from
France, and the assailant was from Figueres. Later I heard that they had
arrested the perpetrator and I thought that would be the end of it, but it
wasn’t. This was because both the French man and the Figueres man were gypsies
and the aggrieved clan had a score to settle. A few days later the French clan
began taking revenge on the clan here in Figueres by killing some of the
livestock of an uncle and wrecking some of the homes of other family members.
Suddenly Figueres didn’t feel so European.
Last Sunday, on the 23rd, the Eve of Sant Joan –
midsummer night – there was a shooting in Girona where four people were shot.
They were all taken to the hospital in Girona where two of them later died of
their wounds. About 100 members of the clan of the victims showed up at the
hospital and were kept at bay by the police.
When I heard the news and heard that the victims were from
one clan and the perpetrators from another, I knew they were talking about
gypsies. Everyone has families; gypsies have clans.
The victims were shot by a man called Guillermo who was
using an AK-47. This is the first time I’ve heard of that kind of weapon being
used here. Firearms are much less prevalent than in the U.S. and many attacks
are with knives.
Guillermo disappeared immediately. And so did members of his
clan who live in Figueres where he was originally from. So when 300 members of
the victims’ clan, known as Los Tomates, showed up Friday night to take
revenge, their three homes were vacant. The Girona clan had already destroyed
Guillermo’s apartment and car in a town near Girona, now 70 of the clan went in
and destroyed all three of the homes here. According to gypsy law, those three
homes now belong to Los Tomates. While Los Tomates were destroying the
properties, the police basically waited and kept people away. They have said
that trying to confront three hundred people, many of them wielding axes and
bats, would have called for an enormous police presence and would have resulted
in escalating the violence. This way, at least no one was injured.
At this point, no one knows where Guillermo or the members of his clan are, and the question remains, who will find Guillermo first? Los Tomates or the police?
When I first came to see apartments in Figueres, I was shown
one that bordered on Sant Joan, the gypsy neighborhood. Of course I didn’t know
that at the time. Lucky me I didn’t buy it. I remember coming back from a drive
a few years ago and following a sign that made my return route different than
the one I used to go. All of a sudden I was in Sant Joan where the streets and small plazas were packed
with people sitting on benches, chairs they had brought down, chatting, playing
guitar, milling around, passing the time. It was nothing like the rest of
Figueres where, except for la Rambla, the streets are meant for walking.
Suddenly Figueres felt like another world.
Oh, the photo? Yesterday’s brewing storm.
