ARCHIVED - 55,000 march in Cartagena to demand solutions for the Mar Menor

A historic display of frustration at the lack of action to protect the lagoon and coastal towns

In what is being described in the regional press as a “historic” event in Cartagena on Wednesday evening an estimated 55,000 took to the streets to demand solutions to protect the marine environment in the Mar Menor and to prevent the flooding which has become worryingly common in coastal towns along the inland shore in recent years every time there is a significant downpour.

Coachloads of demonstrators arrived in Cartagena prior to the start of the event on the Alameda San Antón, the sheer weight of numbers delaying the beginning of the march as they gathered bearing placards and waving banners. The protesters then made their way slowly towards the Plaza de España before the head of the vast column of people reached the regional parliament building in Paseo Alfonso XIII, where a manifesto was read by representatives of the neighbours’ associations in the Campo de Cartagena and ecological and naturalist groups.

Most of the banners and chants which dominated the event were calls for action instead of words, with criticism directed at political leaders and administrative bodies including the CHS water infrastructures administration organization, but for the most part this was not an overtly political demonstration, but one lead by multinational residents from multiple communities expressing their frustration at the lack of progress in solving the problems faced by the Mar Menor.

There were some calls for resignations, but almost all political parties were represented in Cartagena, although the role of regional government ministers and opposition leaders was a secondary one as they were relegated to the back of the march rather than leading it.

This mass demonstration was fundamentally an expression of the frustration and anger felt by a large proportion of the population of the Region of Murcia over the failure to prevent the deterioration of the Mar Menor, despite warnings having been issued by ecologists for at least 30 years.

The manifesto which was read outside the Asamblea regional pointed the finger of blame at the regional government (which is currently formed by the PP party in a pact with Ciudadanos) and the CHS (which at present is under the control of the PSOE national government), but there is a real sense that a lot of members of the public do not mind who holds positions of power as long as something is actually done to reverse what may yet prove to be a terminal decline in the condition of the lagoon.

The level of discontent has been heightened by the events of the last month and a half, since the destructive gota fría storm which hit the Costa Cálida in mid-September. The floodwater and mud has now been cleared from towns such as Los Alcázares and Los Nietos, but the damage done to the Mar Menor itself by flood debris and runoff water will continue to have much longer-lasting effects, and after the removal of six tons of dead fish and crustaceans from the beaches in the north of the lagoon three weeks ago experts now expect the “green soup” of 2016 to return as the level of chlorophyll in the water rises sharply.

While there is apparently such unanimous support for urgent steps to be taken, there must remain some hope that the Mar Menor can be “saved”, but urgency really is the keyword at present. In the words of the author María Dueñas, one of those who read the manifesto on Wednesday, “if any politician feel that he or she is not up to the task, let him or her step aside and make way for someone who is determined to adopt urgent measures”.

Unfortunately, though, the Pacto por el Mar Menor platform group reports that the commitment to protecting the lagoon is not quite unanimous, and that on Wednesday, just hours before the demonstration in Cartagena, fields were being ploughed close to the coast (with the furrows perpendicular to the shoreline rather than parallel to it, as the law demands) in close proximity to the protected salt marshes of Marchamalo.

This demonstration has been called "historic" by many of the media reporting on the march today, and certainly there was an intense level of media interest, the beginning of the march delayed due to the sheer numbers of people filling the Alameda and attempting to photograph/interview those leading the demonstration.

But at the end of the day, this was a demonstration showing unequivocally the level of anger and concern felt amongst those who live and work around Europe's largest saltwater lagoon, amongst them many foreign nationals, participating to show solidarity with their Spanish neighbours who were flooded out in the recent storms, express their sadness at the chain of events which had befallen their friends and families who were evicted from mud-filled homes and fears for the future of their businesses should long-term solutions not be found to the ongoing problem.

Join the Mar Menor group on Facebook for info about Los Alcázares, San Javier, San Pedro del Pinatar, Torre Pacheco, La Unión and Cartagena and keep up to date with all the latest news and events in the Mar Menor: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarMenorNewsAndEvents/

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