8 Oct, 2021 @ 15:45
1 min read

Massive demonstration over Mar Menor pollution sends message to Murcia government in Spain

Massive demonstration over Mar Menor pollution sends message to Murcia government in Spain

PROTESTORS hit Murcia City’s streets on Thursday evening(October 7) to call for action to stop pollution in the Mar Menor lagoon.

No official attendance figures were provided by authorities but organisers claimed that 70,000 people took part.

The demonstration was called by 200 local groups with participants coming from across Spain.

Thousands of dead fish and marine life appeared on lagoon beaches in August in a repeat of what happened in October 2019.

Environmentalists blame nitrogen-based discharges from adjoining farms for the problem.

May be an image of 1 person, standing and outdoors

The start of the march was split into two groups, with the protestors linking up in the Plaza de la Fuensata, before ending up in the Plaza de Juan XXIII.

That’s where the regional agriculture, environment and water ministry is based.

Demonstrators shouted for the resignation of Murcia president, Fernando Lopez Miras, and his environment minister, Antonio Luengo.

Protest organisers accused the Partido Popular-led government of ‘constantly lying’ about the state of the Mar Menor.

They said that politicians were ‘wasting’ public money on ‘useless’ measures that ignored the problem of illegal water discharges into the lagoon.

They also attacked the CHS water authority for not doing enough to deal with illegal irrigation.

May be an image of one or more people, people standing, crowd and outdoors

One of the demonstration leaders was Ramon Pagan from the ‘Pacto por el Mar Menor’ group.

He said: “ The lagoon has not changed since the mass fish deaths of 2019 or from the invasion of mass green algae in 2016.”

“The regional government does not listen to us and does not deal with the source of the pollution”.

READ MORE:- ENVIRONMENTALISTS FILE MAR MENOR POLLUTION COMPLAINT WITH EUROPEAN UNION

HUMAN CHAIN FORMED AROUND MAR MENOR LAGOON SHORES

GREEN BUFFER ZONE IDEA PUT FORWARD FOR MAR MENOR LAGOON

Alex Trelinski

Alex worked for 30 years for the BBC as a presenter, producer and manager. He covered a variety of areas specialising in sport, news and politics. After moving to the Costa Blanca over a decade ago, he edited a newspaper for 5 years and worked on local radio.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

COVID-19 incidence rate on the rise in five of the six health districts in Spain’s Malaga
Previous Story

Spain officially declared ‘low risk’ as COVID-19 infection rate drops

Property in real estate window. Cordon Press
Next Story

Spain property sales rocket above pre-pandemic levels

Latest from Environment

Go toTop

More From The Olive Press

Ryanair confirms major change to its check-in rules for next year

RYANAIR has announced a major change to its boarding pass

Slash the red tape! Experts in Spain demand lowering of bureaucratic hurdles to new construction projects

WITH rents soaring and a projected shortfall of 600,000 homes