Firefighters in Alicante try to storm the plenary hall

“We don’t know what would have happened if they had gotten in .” When firefighters tried to attack the plenary hall of Alicante City Hall yesterday, Thursday 27th March, one eyewitness characterised their level of anxiety as follows. In the end, local police officers stopped them from going inside.

The plenary session in March has turned into one of the bloodiest in recent memory. An attack attempt by municipal firefighters who were protesting their working conditions was the cause.

During the plenary session, the demonstrators yelled, “Barcala, comply,” “Barcala, take off your tie and come to the park,” and “Come here and talk to us.”

They tried to push their way in, and their anger erupted because they weren’t being heard. They were also halted by officers from the Rapid Intervention Task Force of the Local Police. Eventually, they were forced to leave.

The demands for the promised improvements—first, the state of the city’s fire station facilities, and second, compensation for the unusual services required for their work—were the foundation of the violent protest.

Barcala bemoaned the manner in which these demands were implemented, calling it a “disgrace to the plenary session,” according to Europa Press. Rafa Mas, a spokesman for Compromís, was summoned to order “stirring up the protests.” Mas bemoaned the “precarious situation” and “lack of resources” faced by the city firefighters during his remarks.

PSPV, Vox, EU-Podem, and the rest of the opposition concur that while they do not agree with the “forms” of the firefighters’ protests, they do agree with the “demands” and the “substance.”

Although Silvia Castell, a socialist councillor, has urged the mayor to “listen to them” and “fulfil his promises,” Manolo Copé, a spokesman for EU-Podem, feels that “their demands must be heard” because the mayor “is not up to the task.”