DARÍO PRIETO
Updated Thursday, January 18, 2024-23:01
Controversy The author of the work on Alsasua: "It is an object of healthy debate"
The premiere of the play
'Altsasu'
, about the attack on two civil guards and their partners in the Navarrese town (and the subsequent judicial process of eight accused of the attack) has disrupted this Thursday the relative tranquility of the surroundings of the
Teatro de la Abadía from Madrid
.
The call for a protest rally called by VOX in the vicinity of the center has led to a large presence of police, who have blocked the streets surrounding the space.
Under the motto, "For the dignity of the civil guard. No to the whitewashing of terrorism", a hundred supporters of the political party have gathered at the intersection between Fernández de los Ríos and Vallehermoso streets, led by
Rocío Monasterio and Javier Ortega Smith
, VOX spokespersons in the Madrid Assembly and in the capital's city council, respectively.
For Ortega Smith, the work makes an
"apology for terrorism and humiliates the victims
. "
It is, he added,
"propaganda to whitewash ETA
. "
The spokesperson for the party in the city of Madrid has indicated that they have asked the mayor's team a question about "why they did not withdraw the subsidy that is being given to this theater as long as it does not guarantee that there will be no apology for terrorism here." nor humiliation to the victims nor to the Civil Guard. We have been told that it is freedom of expression."
A response that he has described as "euphemism and hypocrisy" before the attendees, who carried Spanish flags and chanted slogans such as "one more night, everyone to Ferraz" or "Pedro Sánchez, son of a bitch."
At the other end of the block, at the confluence between Fernández de los Ríos and Galileo, another group of around twenty people, including the former spokesperson for Podemos Culture, Mariano Muniesa, displayed purple posters in favor of the freedom of expression and has had verbal confrontations with some passers-by who
have insulted them by shouting "ETA members", to which they have responded: "You, fascists, are the terrorists".
Once inside, the artistic director of the Abbey and Princess of Asturias Award for Literature,
Juan Mayorga
, had a few words for the public before the start of the performance, written and directed by
María Goiricelaya (Bilbao, 1983)
: "Thank you for to be here. Thank you, more than ever, for being here, in this theater. A theater is a place for peace and freedom. A theater is a place for freedom because those who come to it do so freely, and they freely choose to watch and listen, and they freely judge what they have seen and heard. A theater is a place for peace because different people meet there and agree to unite their eyes and ears on a stage where actresses and actors represent possibilities of what we call The humanity".
"Before with speeches," Mayorga continued, "freedom is defended by exercising it.
Before with speeches, peace is defended by practicing it. Today, in this theater, we are going to carry out an act of peace and freedom. By doing so, we will be sending a important message to all the people who do theater in this country and outside this country, and to all the people who love the theater and also to people who never go to the theater. We are also acting for them. Today, in this theater. Thank you, more than ever, for being here."
Regarding the content of the function, which ends with 'My beloved Spain', by Cecilia, Goiricelaya has sought to give voice to different people involved in the Alsasua attack, from the civil guards to those accused of the attack, including the couples of the first, the relatives of the second and even tweeters.
Thus, one of the former Podemos deputy in the Basque Parliament, Julen Bollain,
is reproduced : "The kids from Altsasu: Up to 9 years in prison.
Valtonyc: 3 and a half years in prison. Pablo Hasel: 2 years and one day in prison "Isa Serra for trying to stop an eviction: 19 months in prison.
The rapists of the 'Manada' for abusing a girl: 18 months in prison
. "
Or this other: "Anyone who continues to doubt the disproportion in the Altsasu case, do not forget that our sons and daughters are asked for ten years more than José Bretón for killing and burning his children or 38 more than José Bretón. Yllanes for murdering Nagore Laffage."
An intervention by the defense in the trial is also reproduced: "Your Honor, I would like to point out that attacks on law enforcement officers are not uncommon in contemporary Spain.
Between 2012 and 2016 the National Police and the Civil Guard reported "close to 7,000 attacks.
The documentation provided by the defense wishes to once again highlight a series of significant examples of the treatment that similar events received in other regions of the Spanish State."
And it lists: "Assault on two off-duty civil guards in Benicassim. Injuries: hospitalization for more than a week due to a fracture of several parts of the face and injuries to the eyelids, which required surgery. The sentence was 14 months of prison for a crime of injuries with deformity. Fines for lack of injuries of €300 and €450 and €90,000 in compensation. Assault on a Civil Guard on duty in Plasencia. Injuries: right shoulder dislocation, surgical treatment, with a healing period of 214 days. Sentence: two years and ten months in prison and compensation of €19,000. Attack on several municipal police officers in Pamplona. Injuries: arthritis in the ring finger, multiple bruises and bites. Sentence:
4 months in prison for attack to the authority and fines of €100
."
The work also includes the presence of Momotxorro, a character from the Alsasua Carnival who makes this call in the final part of the montage: "Baring my teeth, I fiercely claim that I have inhabited this valley for thousands of years, that I am capable from my core that the earth awakens. And the bear. That I can make it sow with fortune and that the light returns after the winter; that the snow burns and the breeding continues. Because my human part one day understood that only being an animal, rain and "Earth would survive everything. Because
the survival of a people lies in looking at itself and being able to say who it is."