The first firecracker has not been fired and the
mascletà
of Madrid is already making noise.
The animal protector Salvando Peludos, through the law firm Derechos y Animales, has filed an appeal before the Administrative Litigation Court of Madrid requesting extremely precautionary measures to suspend the pyrotechnic event scheduled for this Sunday, February 18 at the Puente del Rey, that passes over Madrid Río, an environment in the process of renaturalization since 2016. At the same time, Más Madrid warns that, less than five days before the event, there is no closed contract, no costs, no file.
The party's spokesperson, Rita Maestre, has questioned the lack of information.
“The administrative file still does not exist: there are no permits, there are no reports and there is no contract.
There is nothing but smoke and a serious threat to a protected space and its fauna,” she said this Wednesday after verifying that the contracting file will not be ready until this weekend.
The pyrotechnic shot that will be fired in Madrid at 1:00 p.m. on February 18 with more than 307 kilos is part of a protocol signed in June by the City Councils of Valencia and Madrid in a tourism promotion strategy for key events in both territories, such as the Fallas festival, declared intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.
However, the activity has been criticized by opposition parties (Más Madrid and PSOE) and by organizations such as Ecologistas en Acción, SEO Bird Life and AnimaNaturalis for the environmental effects it may have.
Everyone is in a race against time to request the suspension and relocation of the
mascletà
.
There are four days left and the counter is still counting.
More information
Madrid will have a 'mascletà' with more kilos of gunpowder than Valencia, Almeida does not say how much it will cost and environmentalists are against
The lawyer María Dolores García, who presented the appeal this Tuesday, has asked the Court to rule in two days.
“If the judge considers that our arguments are correct, he should suspend the
mascletà
.
If they agree with us after Sunday, it will be of no use because the damage to the animals will already be done,” explains García.
The appeal focuses on two arguments: the environmental damage in a renaturalized area and the protection that a space like Casa de Campo, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), should have.
García considers that the activity violates community regulations such as the Birds Directive and other state regulations by putting at risk more than 134 species of birds registered in Madrid Río, as SEO Bird Life has also reported based on data from the BirdNET application.
“The natural heritage, the living heritage, must take priority over any event that could damage it.
There are alternatives,” says the lawyer.
On the other hand, she remembers that town councils are obliged by the Historical Heritage Law to conserve, guard and maintain BIC spaces such as Casa de Campo.
García also mentions the lack of information about the activity.
“There is maximum obscurantism to, in my opinion, prevent people from reporting it.
It is shameful,” he criticizes.
This is precisely the complaint made this Wednesday by Más Madrid, which has requested access to the complete file without success.
The hiring file, in fact, will be ready until “practically” February 18, the day of the shooting, as Madrid Destino, the institution in charge of the show, has recognized in response to a request for information from councilor Eduardo Fernández Rubiño (More Madrid).
“The characteristics and processing of the file itself mean that it cannot be structured in its entirety practically until the celebration of the activity itself because it is subject to very diverse procedures and instances that are being completed on these dates,” says the letter from Madrid Destino. dated February 13.
The contract, until this Tuesday, had not been awarded either.
The manager of Madrid Destino, Ángel Martín Vizcaíno, adds in the letter that “the negotiations with other government areas of the City Council itself, municipal companies, the Civil Guard and the Government Delegation that affect the definition of the show are also about to be finalized.”
This despite the fact that Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida announced the
mascletà
last year.
Nor have any further details emerged since Cibeles.
Vice Mayor Inma Sanz, when asked last week about the costs, responded that the file was not yet available and that "all the studies were being carried out, with all the rigor so that the technical reports guarantee that it is a space where it is possible to carried out from all points of view, security, environment and everything else.”
There are studies that have shown how, when shooting firecrackers and other types of pyrotechnic elements on a large scale, birds flee en masse and at high altitudes, causing energy losses, disorientation and resettlement problems.
These explosions have also been documented to cause increases in heart rate and stress levels.
For this reason, Councilor Rubiño had asked the City Council on Tuesday to know the measures to “guarantee the safety and well-being of the animals during the event.”
Rita Maestre has also missed the information on how much the city will pay for the activity.
“If Almeida wants to pay for an electoral rally to the PP of Valencia, let him do it with his money, but let him leave a protected and renaturalized space alone,” added the spokesperson.
The lawyer who has taken the case to court affirms that "it makes no sense to have invested so much effort and money to renaturalize the Manzanares River and for the wildlife to return to end up shooting more than 300 kilos of gunpowder."
In Valencia, the
mascletà
organized in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento were paid at 8,500 euros in 2023, a price established by the Central Fallera Board.
However, other Valencian pyrotechnics companies contacted by this newspaper explained that the real cost is “much higher” and that in Valencia they accept payment from the Board because firing during Fallas is a form of promotion of their work.
Each
mascletà
is different, the shots use 120 kilos of different types of gunpowder onwards for a show that lasts approximately five minutes.
The load that will be used in Madrid is not negligible: in the closing
mascletá
of Fallas in 2023, 260 kilos of gunpowder were used.
Environmental organizations and neighborhood associations from the neighborhoods surrounding Casa de Campo and the Manzanares River are preparing actions.
On Friday, Ecologists in Action will do a bird recognition route through Madrid Río;
On Saturday, Anima Naturalis will call a protest at noon in Cibeles;
and on Sunday, also at 12:00, the neighborhood associations of Manzanares-Casa de Campo, Puerta del Ángel and Príncipe Pío and the Save the Casa de Campo platform will hold a rally before the shooting that, like those held in Valencia, exceeds 120 decibels.
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