SAT 'supermarket sweepers' make off with 10 trolleys full of school materials from Carrefour
SAT 'supermarket sweepers' make off with 10 trolleys full of school materials from Carrefour
A PRESSURE group which ended up on the wrong side of the law for carrying out supermarket sweeps last year and giving the food to the poor have carried out another – this time stealing 10 trolley-loads of school material.
In protest over the costs faced by parents when children start school every September – many of whom are out of work and struggle to survive financially – the Andalucía Union of Workers (SAT) rushed round Carrefour on the Utrera road in Sevilla and filled their trolleys with notepads, pencils, highlighter pens, rubbers and other stationery.
They left with around 2,000 euros' worth of school materials and said this was to draw attention to the two million people in the southern region of Andalucía living in actual poverty, amongst whom 400,000 households had no income whatsoever due to all adult members being out of work, and did not receive any State benefits.
Spokesman for the SAT Diego Cañamero said 'no violence was involved' and that the group had spoken to the security staff at the branch of Carrefour in question asking them not to intervene, because this was a protest act and not a simple theft, and that there would be no disturbances.
The security staff complied in full and the school material supermarket sweep 'went perfectly', Cañamero reported.
At the same time, Cañamero said he had negotiated with the hypermarket's manager the possibility of donating the material collected to charities working for the poor, in a bid to avoid SAT members being reported for theft, but is awaiting the official response.
The members entered the hypermarket in 15 pairs and they were already leaving when the police arrived, meaning no arrests were made.
They say the trolleys and their contents are currently hidden 'in a secret location for security purposes' and that the SAT would be meeting again on Sunday in Osuna (Sevilla) to discuss further demonstrations.
But the ministry of the interior has ordered the forces to identify and arrest the 30 people involved and said it will 'act firmly' in this matter.
Cañamero criticised the government for 'trying to cover up its own inefficiency' by concentrating its efforts on the identification and arrest of the union members rather than on 'providing solutions to the financial crisis'.
“They should be trying to solve the dire situation people in Spain are in financially, rather than wasting their time trying to arrest us,” Cañamero stated, adding that he is 'completely unworried' about the government's threats.
“This is nothing new – our actions have been peaceful and we have nothing to hide,” he stressed.
The SAT's leader, Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, was arrested and charged last year over the collective food robbery from various supermarkets, including Mercadona, he organised.
Sánchez Gordillo became something of a national hero for his actions, but the supermarkets involved complained that they already had charity schemes in place to help feed those who could not afford to survive, and resented being robbed and treated as hard-nosed capitalists.
