typicallyspanish.com

Correction: the local press all put the figure of attendees at some 1500 (900 according to the Local Police - in the pay of the Town Hall of course, 2500 according to the organisers. See http://www.elpais.com/articulo/Comunidad/Valenciana/industria/puerto/Alican te/poligonos/elpepuespval/20080301elpval_1/Tes


The demonstration was organized by the residents’ group “Plataforma en Defensa del Puerto” with the support of 23 other neighbourhood associations and political groups (PSOE, IU, ER, Bloc, Jovenes Verdes, European Greens, Vecinos por Alicante, etc) against the plans to convert the Port of Alicante into an industrial estate. Ecologistas en Acción also oppose plans to site Spain’s largest chemical plant for biodiesel production there, and they agree that industrial activity should be based in an industrial estate rather than a port in the centre of the city. Various urban planning and architecture professors in the University of Alicante, the local unions and the new Association of Workers in the Port also all reject the attempts to convert the port into an industrial estate. The demonstration is to show the Town Hall and the Port the local citizens’ opposition to:
 
-         constructing chemical plants in the Port close to the city (biodiesel is still under appeal, liquid fertilizer plant now on the cards)
-         the 3 concrete plant projects, each one 25 m. high (even though the Town Hall rejected the planning permission for the biodiesel plant due to its height of 18 m. last March!)
-         the plans for 17 silos (at first, more to follow for sure) up to 40 m. high when the Port regulations specify a maximum height of 12 m. No overall visual impact analysis has been done.
-         the open air unloading of clinker and carbon which produces massive dust clouds and has been recognised as dangerous for health by the cement companies themselves, and the Alcalde has publicly admitted that it is a serious problem
-         the sites for the fibreglass workshops in the Port are some 100 m. from the nearest homes, and the wind brings harmful dust and smells into the residential areas

Juan Pablo - Thanks for giving us more information on this