The mascletà
is held
in Madrid for this Sunday, February 18, on the esplanade next to the Puente del Rey.
This was decided this Friday by the Contentious-Administrative Court 8 of Madrid after having studied the appeal presented by the animal shelter Salvando Peludos and the documents delivered by the Madrid City Council in the last few hours.
The pyrotechnic event has a budget of 46,000 euros, paid with public money, and will detonate 307 kilos of pyrotechnics next to the Manzanares River, in the process of renaturalization since 2016. The contracting was made through the municipal company Madrid Destino with a negotiated procedure without advertising, so it was awarded directly to Pirotecnia Valenciana SL.
Judge Berta María Gosálbez, head of the court, has argued that since the animal association had not previously exhausted the administrative route, she could not grant it precautionary measures to suspend the event.
In the order, the court emphasizes that argument used by the City Council itself, which stated that the association did not present the issue through any other means or any prior requirement.
The council provided, before 11:00 this Friday, an environmental report signed on February 5, "a series of documents accrediting the administrative and security processing" and evidence that
mascletàs
done
in other environmental protection areas, such as in La Albufera (Valencia).
In the environmental report, he warned, no authorization was required to exceed the limits of sound levels, since it was a pyrotechnic event and not an event with “elements of sound reproduction or musical ambiance.”
And he defended that it could not be said that the mascletá created irreversible damage.
In any case, in the end the damages have not been assessed, but rather a matter of form when filing the complaint.
More information
The 'mascletà de Almeida: this explains the effect on a renaturalized environment with 121 species of birds without an environmental impact assessment
From the law firm Derecho y Animales, which drafted the contentious-administrative appeal, they regret the decision announced this Friday afternoon and that they did not want to "get into the substance of the matter."
But they do not rule out resorting to the car.
“We understand that in this case, it is the local administration itself that has failed to comply with administrative procedures, thus causing a violation of the principle of legal certainty for those administered.
"You cannot allege what does not exist," the protector and the office stated in a statement.
The appeal presented focused on two arguments.
On the one hand, the environmental damage that could be caused to birds, fish and other animals in a renaturalized area and, on the other hand, the obligation of the administration to protect the Casa de Campo, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC).
Officially, everything is ready.
This same Friday, the Government delegation has given approval for the use of more than 307 kilos of explosives in the
mascletà
scheduled for this Sunday, February 18 on the esplanade next to the King's Bridge, which passes over the Manzanares River, a space in the process of renaturation since 2016. This authorization is required when an event uses a NEC (net weight of explosive material) greater than 100 kilos.
However, he had warned that his authorization did not exempt "from the need for other authorizations, such as environmental, heritage, municipal ordinances, etc."
View of the Manzanares River from the Puente del Rey, in Madrid.
Claudio Alvarez
Sunday's event will be led by the company Pirotecnia Valenciana SL, located in the municipality of Llanera de Ranes (Valencia) from where the completely artisanal pyrotechnic charge is manufactured, which will be transported to Madrid.
Around the King's Bridge you can already see dozens of fences in position and City Hall staff preparing everything.
Pirotecnia Valenciana SL is a company with a long tradition in the Valencian Community and was in charge of the closing shot in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento de Valencia in the Fallas of 2023.
The Madrid
mascletà
will last seven minutes - although the usual is five or five and a half minutes - and will have an aerial start, a detonation from the ground and a "final earthquake", as the company's personal newspaper explained to this newspaper.
The Court order even gives more details.
There will be an aerial section that will begin with a “Valencian firework” and will continue with an aerial fire with effects.
Then will come five terrestrial sections with “thunder of different calibers with increasing intensity.”
And it will all end with an earthquake in which “an infinite amount of thunder will explode in various phases from greater to lesser intensity.”
They assured that the event will comply with all security requirements and that the noise will not be as powerful as that of the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in Valencia during the shootings in Fallas.
“As the space is open, the sound expands,” they indicated from Llanera de Ranes.
Almeida, confident
“We trust that it will be celebrated,” the mayor of Madrid had said this morning during a press conference with questions at an event honoring journalist Pepe Domingo Castaño.
“We have completed all the internal procedures of the City Council.
We have presented that document in court and, therefore, we are confident that on Sunday we will be able to enjoy the
mascletà
in the city of Madrid."
The mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, has gone ahead of the president, who has not spoken, and has celebrated the court's decision.
“See you on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in Puente del Rey!” She posted through X.
See you on Sunday at 1pm in Puente del Rey!
https://t.co/YbCn39mgMI
— María José Catalá (@mjosecatala) February 16, 2024
The spokesman for the Valencian municipal government, Juan Carlos Caballero, stated that the ruling “has shown that this was a groundless controversy.”
“It was about boycotting a
mascletà
and preventing Madrid residents from being able to enjoy it for purely political, sectarian reasons and with an anti-Valencian reek,” said the PP councilor.
Environmentalists, on the other hand, regret the outcome.
Santiago Martín Barajas, a member of Ecologistas en Acción since its founding in 1998 and witness to the recovery of the Manzanares River, assures that the judge's ruling “has been a disappointment.”
“We hoped that the judge would not authorize it or that the City Council would reconsider.
This is an action that will generate environmental damage in Madrid, and whether it will be greater or lesser, we will see.
But it was unnecessary, it could be done elsewhere in Madrid,” says Martín Barajas.
The Spanish Society of Ornithology SEO Bird Life considers that the precautionary principle should have been applied to anticipate possible damage.
“We do not know the content of the report that the City Council presented to the court.
Many times it happens that the report refers to noise, but not to biodiversity, something that is usually ignored in urban environments,” says Beatriz Sánchez, coordinator of SEO/Bird Life's urban biodiversity program.
Opposition parties have also disagreed.
The spokesperson for Más Madrid, Rita Maestre, for example, assures that the court's order “does not go into the substance of the issue” and that, therefore, “it will consider new legal actions.”
Although there is no time to stop the
mascletà
, they still consider that the hiring file, which is not yet known, can be evaluated.
Neighborhood associations, for their part, will maintain the demonstrations scheduled for the weekend.
There will be one on Saturday in front of Cibeles, called by Anima Naturalis and another on Sunday, which is an initiative of the neighbors who live along the banks of the Manzanares River.
“This is something imported, not requested by anyone and the only thing that seeks is to promote Madrid as a venue for large events.
We do not agree with that vision of the City Council,” says Alberto Colomo, president of the Manzanares - Casa de Campo Neighborhood Association.
Yetta Aguado, a resident of the area, assures that she will take the pet from her house.
“She is an older dog, she would suffer a lot from noise.
This is a huge mistake,” she comments.
Poster with the types of birds that live in the Manzanares River near the Puente de Rey, this Friday.
Claudio Alvarez
The controversy over the
mascletà
has had multiple faces.
From the environmental, due to the impact on the more than 120 species of birds that inhabit the Manzanares, to the political, where accusations have been made between the left and the right of Madrid and Valencia.
Almeida announced the event since March 2023, when he promised María José Catalá, then candidate of the Popular Party, that he would hold a
mascletà
in Madrid if she won the elections.
“I am sure that next year I will return as mayor and she will be there as mayor.
Plus, we're going to celebrate in a big way.
I made the commitment that if María José becomes mayor, there will also be a
mascletà
in Madrid.
That is to say, I would also invite María José to Madrid and also Carlos [Mazón], our next president of the Generalitat Valenciana [...]”, said Almeida from Valencia, during an official visit in the middle of the Fallas celebration.
The promise materialized, first, with the signing of a tourism promotion protocol by the City Councils of Madrid and Valencia in January, during the International Tourism Fair (Fitur).
The agreement will last four years and contemplates the creation of a working group with personnel from the tourism areas of both cities and “cultural, tourist and leisure” events to increase “knowledge among citizens” of the tourist offer of Madrid and Valencia.
The
mascletà
is one of those events.
It has been scheduled for February 18 because it was the weekend before the Crida, which is celebrated on February 25, and which is the official opening of the Fallas celebrations.
The objective of the town councils is that with the previous one in Madrid, more citizens are encouraged to attend the Crida and, later, the Fallas, which are celebrated from March 14 to 19, although the
mascletà
in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento soars daily since March 1.
These Valencian festivals, in reality, need little extra promotion.
Last year they became massive parties that exceeded the best forecasts.
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