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Guardiola defends Catalonia political symbol

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola defended his decision to wear a yellow ribbon in support of jailed Catalan independence leaders after his side beat Arsenal 3-0 to win the League Cup final on Sunday.

Published: 26 February 2018 10:48 CET

Guardiola defends Catalonia political symbol

Photo: AFP

The Football Association on Friday charged Guardiola, saying the symbol sported by the former Barcelona boss on his jacket broke its rules.

“Pep Guardiola has been charged for wearing a political message, specifically a yellow ribbon, in breach of the FA's kit and advertising regulations,” the FA statement said.

“He has until 6:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Monday 5 March 2018 to respond to the charge.”

READ: English FA charges Pep Guardiola over Catalonia political symbol

Following events last year surrounding Catalonia's bid to break away from Spain, which included a referendum and a proclamation of independence, both deemed illegal, the authorities jailed several leaders of the movement.

“If I broke the rules I accept the fine… so I am a human being,” said Catalonia-born Guardiola, who wore a yellow ribbon on his grey jumper in the post-match press conference at Wembley.

“Before I'm a manager I'm a human being, so I'm a person. So I think England knows very well what it means.

“You did the Brexit, let the people give an opinion, you allow to Scotland to make a referendum about if you want to stay or not so and after people vote. That is what they ask.”

“Everybody's innocent until the judge proves you are guilty,” he added, saying charges of rebellion and sedition were strong.

“It is always with me, will always be with me until the last because I think it's not about politicians, it's about democracy,” added Guardiola, who said he was grateful for a campaign to hand out ribbons to City fans.

The City manager in December explained his stance in response to comments from Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, who questioned whether the ribbon was within the rules and claimed he would not be allowed to do a similar thing.

The League Cup final victory gave Guardiola his first trophy as City boss but they are almost certain to win the Premier League and are well-placed to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.

Why are Barcelona's beaches disappearing?

Barceloneta Beach. Photo: Pau BARRENA / AFP

Barcelona may be famed for its beaches and they may be one of its biggest tourist draws, but it hasn’t always been this way.

In fact, Barcelona didn’t used to have any beaches at all, just ports and seaside neighbourhoods. It wasn’t until 1992 when the city held the Olympic Games that these neighbourhoods were demolished and the beaches were created.

What’s the problem?

Since 2017, the city’s beaches have been losing between six and 10 metres of width per year, according to a recent study by the Área Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB).

This beach erosion means that every year there is less and less sand for residents and tourists to lie on and enjoy.

This is not a new problem however and has been going on much longer than four and half years. In 2016, the Barcelona City Council revealed that since 2010 Barceloneta Beach had lost over 15 metres in width, which is equivalent to 28 percent of its surface area.

In another 2016 report, the regional authorities of Barcelona also showed that its beaches as a whole had lost 17 percent of their total amount of sand during the same time period, the same as five football pitches.

Why is it happening?

The study attributes this to the fact that there have been more storms than normal since 2017, which has prevented the natural recovery of the beaches.

Storm Gloria in January 2020 in particular caused significant damage to the beaches in the area and caused even more sand to be washed away.

In short, most of this is to do with climate change.

The beaches that have been most affected and have lost the most amount of sand are those in the lower Maresme region and the towns of Masnou and Badalona.

Barcelona beaches being destroyed during a storm. Photo: JOSEP LAGO / AFP

What’s being done about it?

The Barcelona City Council has been continually adding a little sand to its beaches each year and moving it around from areas that have more to areas that have less.

Aitor Rumín, head of the beach management service of the Barcelona Consistory told El Pais last month that “the last major contribution of sand was made by the ministry in 2010. Since then we have only lost sand”.

“It’s survival, but we can’t do much more. The beaches lose 30 cubic meters of sand per year, especially in the southern parts of each of the beaches. The coastline is receding and we have beaches like Mar Bella, Nova Mar Bella and Llevant, where we can’t do anything to regain the sand,” he said.

Badalona Beach. Photo: JOSEP LAGO / AFP

While moving the sand around and adding a little each year may help to cover up the problem in the short term, it’s not really helping solve the problem and a long-term solution needs to be found.

The Área Metropolitana de Barcelona have been trying to stop the beach erosion with their Resilience Plan, which will ask for greater contributions of sand to try and balance out the current losses and divide the beaches up with breakwaters.

In the case of Badalona, it has been proposed that 13,200 cubic metres of sand be added to the beach each year, as well as to rethink the layout of the equipment located on the seafront. The construction of a breakwater on La Mora beach has also been proposed.

In Sant Adrià, the plan is to build another breakwater, as well as to remove the jetty in front of the old industrial areas. The council also hope to add a further 95,000 cubic metres of sand.

It is thought that similar plans may be carried out on Barcelona’s other beaches.

Is this a problem anywhere else in Spain?

Yes, beach erosion is a problem throughout Spain, as well as throughout the world, due to climate change.

Theocharis Plomaritis from the University of Cádiz who was one of the co-authors of the Nature Climate Change study published in March 2020, told El Periodico that by the end of the century the retreat of the beaches in Spain and Southern Europe could be 86 metres, if no measures are taken to contain climate change.

According to the study, in the best case scenario – with measures to mitigate the effects of climate – the loss of sandy beaches in Spain would be 60 metres and 27 of these metres by 2050.

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