They had pledged their support for the new public roads ordinance, but Vox does not want ‘purple dots’ on the streets of Alicante during the Bonfire festivities and, knowing that the government team plans to maintain them, announces its rejection. With the foreseeable opposition – for other reasons – from the left, the PP, which governs alone, would see the rule rejected.
It is not the first time that the Popular Party plays cat and mouse with the Vox municipal group, which it must occasionally rely on so as not to see its initiatives rejected due to the lack of an absolute majority for which it lacks a councilor. In this case, both parties had agreed on a new public highway ordinance from which the concept of “violet dot” disappeared, places of specific care for victims of sexist violence.
Given the commotion generated by the news, the vice mayor and spokesperson Manuel Villar has clarified that, in the PP’s interpretation, eliminating the concept does not eliminate the object, that is, it is still possible to install ‘violet points’ on public roads, but the right is expanded to the possibility of other initiatives.
“The purple points are going to be maintained, in fact they are already planned by the council” for the upcoming San Juan festivities, Villar explained. “What is done with this Vox amendment is to open the range to all council departments and all positions that are needed for any type of crime; If we limited ourselves only to the purple point we would have a problem installing points related to bullying, hate crimes, and xenophobia in sports.”
However, Vox spokesperson Carmen Robledillo immediately denied the popular mayor’s version: “We don’t understand it, because we were very clear. What’s more, after those meetings, the question of the ‘violet dots’ was expressly asked and both the vice mayor and the Councilor for Public Roads, Cristina Cutanda, reiterated to us that the ‘violet dots’ were going to disappear.” Therefore, “at this time we are going to vote against the ordinance.”
The rule in question was supposed to regulate, among other things, the hours of the hotel terraces, and had caused discrepancies between residents eager to protect their right to rest and business owners fearful of suffering a negative economic impact. But the initiative could run aground due to an amendment and an unexpected discrepancy.
The councilor of the socialist group, the largest in the opposition, Victoria Melgosa has called for “courage” from Barcala. “The mayor cannot give in to the blackmail of the extreme right to remove the purple points at the Hogueras festivals. He should not use women as bargaining chips and give in to Vox’s postulates.”
“It is shameful that there have been negotiations with the extreme right behind closed doors about the violet points,” he said, “when 1,254 women have been murdered by sexist terrorism since official records exist. It is something that directly attacks the safety of women. “A mayor cannot use women as bargaining chips for his negotiations, ignoring the State Pact against Sexist Violence.”
Melgosa has emphasized that the PP is doomed to grotesque situations like the one we have experienced today because it is only willing to negotiate with the extreme right. “Barcala should negotiate major city agreements and decisions that affect citizens’ rights with the main opposition group and not with those who are passing through, those who champion denialism.”
Rafa Mas, from Compromís, believes that “replacing the violet points with a single point of care for the victim, whether man, woman or animal, is very serious, and Manolo Copé, from EU-Podem, assures that” women’s rights They are not cards that can be exchanged. What happened in Barcala is surpassing all the limits of a decent city.”