The Contentious-Administrative Court number 8 of Madrid has decided this Friday that the mascletà scheduled for this Sunday next to the Puente del Rey in Madrid can be fired, a measure that comes after several days with a controversial intersection of accusations about the suitability of its celebration.
The court’s decision comes after this Friday the Government Delegation in the Community of Madrid has authorized the celebration of the mascletá since they only intervene “in the authorization for the use of explosives and citizen security”, which “does not exempt the need for other authorizations, such as environmental, heritage” or “municipal ordinances”.
The mascletà, which was awarded by the government of José Luis Martínez-Almeida to the company Pirotecnia Valenciana, S.L. for a value of 45,980 euros, is a pre-electoral promise signed between the mayor of Madrid and the current mayoress of Valencia, the also popular María José Catalá.
Environmental organizations criticized the fact that the Puente del Rey, which is located on the Manzanares River, with all the fauna and flora that inhabit it, and very close to the Casa de Campo, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), had been chosen as the setting. .
An animal shelter asked the court for precautionary measures so that the show would not take place and the City Council had until this Friday to send all the information related to the shooting to the court so that justice can rule.
This Friday’s order considers that “there is no place” for the very precautionary measure interested by the entity, which asked to “find another location where it can be carried out” that “does not violate the legal regulations by seriously attacking the existing biodiversity in Madrid Río” .
This Friday, the Valencia City Council approved a motion to support the celebration of the Madrid mascletà and the pyrotechnic sector and to condemn the “attacks of Valencianphobia” that they consider to be produced by criticizing it, in addition to urging the Government to defend it because, being a pillar of the Fallas, they are also Unesco’s Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
The spokesman for the Valencia City Council, Juan Carlos Caballero, assured after hearing the judge’s decision that “it has been shown that it was a groundless controversy, that it was simply a matter of boycotting a mascletà and preventing Madrid residents from enjoying it for reasons purely political, sectarian and with an anti-Valencian reek”.
The spokesperson for Mas Madrid, Rita Maestre, assured that it is “a mountain of firecrackers” and that “it is unnecessary and a terrible idea” to set it off in the capital of Spain, which raised voices from the government and Compromís de València to defend the pyrotechnic industry and ask “respect” for Valencian traditions.
Catalá reproached the Valencian and Madrid left for their “cateta position” on the mascletà and reproached Maestre for his criticism, while Compromís renounced any “unfortunate” expression to refer to a cultural phenomenon of the first order” such as the mascletà and has asked the PP to “stop politicizing the Fallas for their benefit.”
The spokesperson for the PSOE M in the Madrid City Council, Reyes Maroto, has urged the mayor to “apologize” to the people of Madrid whom she has called “catetos.”
