Galician citizens have once again taken to the streets of Santiago de Compostela, summoned by more than a hundred environmental organizations and groups from the estuary sector “in defense of the future of the sea” after the dumping of pellets that has affected the Galician coasts. , in a route that concluded in a full Praza do Obradoiro to which, according to the estimate of the Local Police, some 15,000 people have arrived.
After leaving the Alameda of Compostela shortly before 12:30 p.m., the march started led by two protesters dressed as skulls with buckets, shovels and sandbags, representing the volunteers who during these weeks have participated in cleaning pellets on the beaches. .
Likewise, several people who followed them held colanders or brooms, as well as signs of ‘Never Again’ or, its variant, ‘Unha vez más’. Sea workers held up cardboard with writings in defense of their work, such as ‘We are not poachers, we are sailors’ or ‘The shellfish harvesters cry, the shellfish harvesters do not bill’.
‘Xunta listens, the sea is in struggle’, ‘Incompetent, the people are like that’, ‘We want to go to the sea and not emigrate’ or ‘Rueda listens, the sea is not for sale’ have been some of the chants and shouts. who have accompanied the protesters on their journey, which has advanced through Praza de Galicia, part of the Ensanche and the historic center until reaching the Obradoiro.
With the rain and the Cathedral of Santiago as witnesses, the thousands of participating people sang the cry of ‘Never Again’, which has echoed again in the central square of the Galician capital after more than 20 years, when another crowd packed the Obradoiro after the Prestige disaster.
On a stage set up next to the Colexio San “Once again the Xunta minimizes the problems, ignores scientific data and only resolves with lies and incompetence,” they denounced.
Likewise, the organizers have demanded from the Xunta and the State coordination, transparency, the removal of the bags at sea and the provision of means to collect them on the coast, as well as protection and containers on the beaches. They have also demanded that international institutions declare plastic pellets as “dangerous goods.” “In defense of our sea, lies and incompetence ‘Never Again’,” they have proclaimed.
On the other hand, the manifesto has stressed that “the sea has been sick for many years” and that the traditional model of fishing and shellfish harvesting, which is the “most sustainable” model, is in “real” danger of disappearing due to the introduction of industrial aquaculture.
“The rise in temperatures, the decrease in nutrients in the estuaries and the impact of pollution, together with the drops in salinity, create disastrous productivity conditions,” they have stated, in relation to the “critical” situation of shellfish harvesting in Galicia.
For this reason, studies, sanitation and regeneration plans, regularization of the unloading protocol, economic coverage, an action plan against spills and the control of seafood imports are required from the Xunta.
Before the start, the organizers of the march have asked the administrations to “listen to them” and have claimed the role of environmental groups and sector groups that “defend the Galician estuaries”, something that, they have assured, they will continue to do. “government who governs.”
Thus, the president of the Platform in Defense of Ría de Arousa (PDRA), Xocas Rubido, has reproached the Xunta for not having done “its duties” and for not having “fulfilled its powers.” “It has abandoned our sea and our shellfish harvest is at risk of disappearance,” he denounced.
For his part, the president of the platform in defense of the Ría de Muros and Noia, Rogelio Santos, has claimed that “everything is politics.” In this sense, he recalled: “Attending a demonstration is politics; not attending is politics. Supporting this large crowd is politics.”
Santos Queiruga has stated that he hopes that the next government of the population”. “The sea is not only for sailors, it is for all Galicians,” he indicated.
Along these lines, he has vindicated the role of the platforms in defense of the estuaries and other groups in the sector that defend “that the estuaries be cleaned, that sailors are not left stranded when there is a cessation of activity and that the discharge of water be regulated.” the dams so they don’t kill the shellfish.
“We have been doing it for many years and we will continue to do it, no matter who governs, because we carry it in our soul, we love the sea, we love our profession. We are sailors, we are not politicians, we are sailors and Galicians,” he stressed.
Furthermore, the demonstration has had the participation of all the opposition parties who, with their candidates for the presidency of the Xunta at the head, have taken advantage of this march to support the people of the sea and to criticize the management of the Galician Government.
The first to speak before the media was the leader of the BNG, Ana Pontón, who has shown her support for the citizens who “are rebelling against the lies” and demonstrate “their love for the environment.”
The nationalist leader has lamented that the Xunta “has repeated” before this “plastic tide catastrophe” the same “modus operandi” that during the Prestige: “The concealment, the lie, the manipulation, the lack of respect and the lack of protection of the environment “.
“Today here is a country standing up claiming that it wants a Government that tells it the truth, demanding something fundamental for Galicia, such as that we have to protect our sea. And that is something that we are also going to play for next February 18 “, has advanced.
For his part, the socialist candidate, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, has called to clean the sea of ??pellets and “contamination of lies.” He has valued the participation of the Galician socialists, who respond “to the call of people of the sea, fishermen, shellfish harvesters, biologists, environmentalists and volunteers.”
“In short, from all of Galicia, to clean this sea, clean it of pellets, but above all clean it of the contamination of lies to which we have been subjected in recent weeks,” he censured.
Similarly, the Sumar Galicia candidate, Marta Lois, who has been accompanied by the leader of the party and second vice president of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, has valued “this tide against plastics” and “against the incompetence of Rueda and the Popular Party”.
“We are here as we unfortunately had to be more than 20 years ago, when the Prestige crisis occurred. We are talking about a different scale, but we are talking about a very serious environmental crisis and we are talking about the same mistakes and the same lack of diligence,” he said. censored.
Podemos Galicia has had the support this Sunday of the Political Secretary, Irene Montero, who has criticized the “management disaster” on the part of the Xunta in response to this event. “We realize that with the Popular Party it is always ‘again’, far from ‘Never Again’, while Galician society asks for ‘Never Again’ again”, she stated in statements to the media before the start of the March.
