Thousands of people, a total of 45,000 according to the organisation, have «overflowed» the streets of the centre of Murcia this Thursday in a «citizens’ tide» that has united to cry out against the «critical» situation of the Mar Menor, raise the «cry» of the dead fish in the salt lagoon and demand «immediate solutions» from the administrations, «fundamentally» from the regional government on which «most of the competences necessary» to remedy the situation depend.
The protest began at 20.00 hours, simultaneously, at the headquarters of the Government Delegation in Murcia – to the rhythm of music played over the loudspeaker – and at the regional government – to the rhythm of batucada. They then converged on Avenida de la Constitución and advanced together towards Plaza Circular, where they turned towards Ronda de Levante.
When the head of the demonstration had reached the Plaza Circular, the organisers pointed out that the Gran Vía was still «flooded», so they have raised their estimates of attendance to 45,000 people who have walked through the streets to the cry «from north to south, from east to west: the Mar Menor whatever it takes». Finally, the demonstration ended at the headquarters of the Regional Ministry of Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Environment.
«MAKE THE CRY OF THE MAR MENOR HEARD».
The director of ANSE, Pedro García, has shown his hope that «the cry of the Mar Menor is also heard a lot in the city of Murcia, as it was heard in 2019 in Cartagena» and that «the cry of this summer, of so many dead animals, ends up reaching where it has to reach». In his opinion, «it has to reach fundamentally those responsible who, until now, have looked the other way» to achieve, in the end, «effective measures as soon as possible».
The spokesman for Ecologists in Action, Pedro Luengo, pointed out that the measure proposed by the regional government to open the gullies «has been ruled out by scientists from the beginning» and acting only at the end of the Albujón wadi «is not the solution either». In his opinion, «we must act at the source of the nutrients that end up causing the problem of eutrophication». She is also in favour of taking measures in other sectors, but believes that if the eutrophication problem is not solved, «in the end we will not have a Mar Menor to save, because that is what is killing the ecosystem fast».
Ada García, spokeswoman for the Committee promoting the Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) to give legal personality to the Mar Menor, explained that they have collected 400,000 of the 500,000 signatures needed to collect them. «We are optimistic and, in these last two weeks, we hope to collect the remaining signatures,» according to García, who reminds us that the deadline expires on 28 October.
For her part, the spokesperson for the SOS Mar Menor group, Isabel Martínez, pointed out that «the proposal is due to the «neglect when it comes to solving the problem of the Mar Menor», which «already began to be denounced 20 years ago». The «really serious» problems appeared from 2016 onwards and he regrets that, in these five years, «they have become more and more serious but absolutely nobody has lifted a finger to fix it».
The chemist and spokesman for Pacto por el Mar Menor, Ramón Pagán, has hoped that the demonstration will serve to provide «immediate solutions» to the Mar Menor. «We are hoping that, once and for all, the Autonomous Community of Murcia will start working to find real solutions to the pollution of the Mar Menor, which they have not done yet,» he said.