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CONFLICT

Tensions rise on Catalan streets and beaches as divisions over secession deepen

From pro-independence yellow crosses vying with Spanish flags on beaches to party offices vandalised, Catalonia has seen a rise in tensions as divisions over secession from Spain deepen.

Published: 30 May 2018 09:45 CEST
Tensions rise on Catalan streets and beaches as divisions over secession deepen
A woman places a yellow ribbon shaped as a cross on the beach during a protest in support for jailed separatist leaders. Photo: AFP

“There is latent violence, violence that can be felt in the air but doesn't usually materialise into physical violence, and it's on the rise,” warns Sonia Andolz, a political expert in conflict analysis at the University of Barcelona.   

“There is a rise in tone, confrontation between people who push or insult each other. Hate speech against others is becoming normal.”   

Over the past weeks, this region of northeastern Spain with 7.5 million people has been the scene of a war of symbols.   

Independence supporters have filled streets, buildings or beaches with yellow crosses or ribbons, the colour used to protest against the jailing of separatist leaders after a failed independence bid last October.   

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Those who want to remain in Spain then promptly remove these symbols.   

Early this month, police had to intervene to prevent two groups from clashing in Barcelona.

Last week in Canet de Mar, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the Catalan capital, three independence supporters were injured when a group of hooded people destroyed a “cemetery” of yellow crosses installed on the beach.   

On Sunday, anti-independence protesters in Barcelona tried to force a police officer to remove a yellow ribbon hanging on the city hall, and then filled a beach with Spanish flags.

The conflict even reached the regional parliament where a session was interrupted on Friday because Carlos Carrizosa, a lawmaker for the main anti-independence party Ciudadanos, removed a yellow ribbon from a seat.   

The political situation in Catalonia remains blocked as Madrid refuses to restore direct rule in the region because its new president Quim Torra has named four jailed and exiled separatist leaders as part of his regional government.

Attacks on party HQs

While the independence movement is far from new in Catalonia, tensions erupted in earnest after a banned independence referendum on October 1 which was marred by police violence.

The jailing of separatist leaders and a failed declaration of independence on October 27th — rejected by around half of the population in Catalonia — also provoked tensions.

Protests on both sides of the divide then increased.   

While not a major force in Spain, far-right groups waded in, leaving a trail of assaults against independence supporters.   

Meanwhile separatist protests that had always been peaceful started getting disruptive with demonstrators clashing with police in March.   

Political parties have not been spared either.   

They have denounced acts of vandalism against their offices, from graffiti to broken windows.

The office of Ciudadanos in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Catalonia's second biggest city, has been vandalised 13 times since 2015, says its manager Miguel Garcia.

Some of these acts involved filling the entrance with animal faeces.   

“It's just another sign of the tension that Catalonia is going through, there are people who don't tolerate our ideas,” says Garcia.   

Ciudadanos has counted around 30 acts of vandalism in the northeastern region over the past year, a similar figure to that tallied by the Catalan branch of Spain's Socialist party, also against independence.   

Albert Rivera, leader of Ciudadanos posted a photo showing vandalism of his mother's shop.

Pro-independence parties have also suffered but according to the ERC separatist party, they don't count them so as not to convert “one-off events into a category.”

“Some want people to think that Catalan society is becoming radical and uses violence, but that's not true,” says David Bonvehi from the PDeCAT, the party of deposed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont.   

The PDeCAT saw one of its office in Barcelona covered in faeces on Monday.

Boiling frog

In an article in Catalonia's La Vanguardia daily, writer Antoni Puigverd compared the situation in the region to the boiling frog syndrome.   

That says if a frog is plunged into boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is put into tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will be cooked to death.

“This very low intensity violence, this vandalism, these ritual clashes… are the warm water in which the Catalan frog is bathing as it tries to ignore that the fire is still on, and every day the temperature rises a little,” he wrote.

Andolz, who has experience mediating conflicts in the Balkans and Middle East, doubts that physical violence will become widespread but warns the situation “is more dangerous than it seems.”

“In conflicts, physical violence is the worst but the easiest to stop,” she says.

“Cultural violence and hate remain and that should be of huge concern.”

By AFP's Daniel Bosque 

BEACHES

Why are Barcelona’s beaches disappearing?

Barcelona's much-loved beaches are losing between six and 10 metres of sand per year, but why is this happening?

Published: 16 June 2021 15:30 CEST
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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