More than 400 people gathered on Wednesday, May 27, in the afternoon at parc de l'Alhambra, in Santa Eulàlia, to protest against the construction project of the new municipal sports center in that space.
The mobilization occurred while the neighborhood was celebrating its Festa Major and highlighted the clash between the municipal government's plan and the residents' demand to respect the 2019 consultation, in which the neighborhood overwhelmingly voted to locate the facility in the Gasòmetre space.
The protest blocked the institutional inauguration of the Festa Major
The pressure from the protesters prevented the district councilor from taking the stage to perform the institutional inauguration of the Festa Major of Santa Eulàlia.
After the gathering at parc de l'Alhambra, a group of attendees went to the PSC's guingueta to continue protesting against the municipal government.
Khristian Giménez, spokesperson for the Associació de Veïns i Veïnes Som Santa Eulàlia, placed the protest within the neighborhood's own celebration.
"We are participating in the Festa Major. We have come today as a neighborhood association to express our rejection of their decision to the government" - Khristian Giménez, spokesperson for the Associació de Veïns i Veïnes Som Santa Eulàlia
The neighborhood association demands to uphold the result of the 2019 consultation
The organizing entity rejects the construction of the new sports center in parc de l'Alhambra because it considers it to be the only real green space in the neighborhood. At the same time, it demands that the city council uphold the location decided in the 2019 citizen consultation.
In that vote, the neighborhood overwhelmingly opted to build the facility in the Gasòmetre space. For the association, moving the project to parc de l'Alhambra now contradicts the 2019 result and the will expressed by the residents at that time.
During the protest, Giménez insisted on this double rejection, both for the location now chosen and for the loss of green space in Santa Eulàlia.
"No to throwing away the consultation and the 2019 result and, therefore, the will of the neighborhood" - Khristian Giménez, spokesperson for the Associació de Veïns i Veïnes Som Santa Eulàlia
The spokesperson also added another objection related to the use of the park. The entity rejects building the sports center in the only real park in the neighborhood, an idea that Giménez repeated when defending the conservation of parc de l'Alhambra.
The association has called an informational meeting for Thursday, May 28 at 6:30 PM at the Centre Cultural Santa Eulàlia and a neighborhood assembly for Saturday, June 6 in Plaça Pius XII.