Hundreds of people gathered this Saturday in Praza de Lugo, in A Coruña, to demonstrate against the visit of the head of the Vox delegation in the European Union, Jorge Buxadé, who traveled to the herculine city to take part in an internal event with members and sympathizers.
The gathering, which took place without incidents, was organized by the Coordinadora da Mocidade Socialista (CMS), Erguer and the Sindicato de Inquilinas. The mobilization began an hour before Buxadé went to an information booth located in Praza de Pontevedra, a short distance from the point where the protest was taking place.
This Saturday’s event adds to the one called a week ago on the occasion of the presence in the city of the Vox leader, Santiago Abascal, which, unlike today’s, ended with disturbances and charges by the Policía Nacional against those attending. In addition, on the morning of this same Saturday, some 200 people gathered in Ferrol to show their rejection of Buxadé’s visit, prior to his trip to the A Coruña capital.
Shops closed and march without incidents
During the afternoon of October 31, the young people displayed in A Coruña a banner with the slogan "Against fascism, not one step back" and advanced through Praza de Lugo in the direction of the place where Buxadé was scheduled to appear, although they chose to stop at a considerable distance.
At that point, guarded by a large deployment of the Policía Nacional, they chanted slogans such as "Here are the antifascists," "No matter what happens, class unity" and "No, no, no, VOX does not pass here".
As the march moved through the area, the shops that remained open were lowering their shutters and closing their doors preventively. Finally, around 7:00 p.m., the protest was concluded without any kind of incident being recorded.
"Rejection of hate speech"
Before the start of the demonstration, an activist of the Coordinadora da Mocidade Socialista explained to the media that the purpose of the call was to make visible the "rejection" of the "hate speech that Vox is trying to spread" in the city.
"We are here as antifascists, not to cause panic, but because we are not going to allow racist, homophobic, misogynistic speeches, which they try to bring to our cities, to continue getting away with it with impunity without anyone standing up to them and showing their rejection," she said.
Likewise, he held responsible "those who cede the public spaces that belong to everyone" and those who "spread those harmful messages". "We are not going to allow those messages to stroll through our neighborhoods, which are ours and no one else's, without there being a clear response from organized Galician anti-fascism," he concluded.
Leaflets with "security information" for the attendees
Before the march got underway, the organizing groups distributed among those present a leaflet with "security information," in which they recommended that, in the event of a possible police charge, they "not run and listen to the identified people in charge of the order service".
That document also warned that, "if the police cause the situation to go outside the expected framework," the mobilization would be called off and a new meeting point would be communicated, something that was ultimately not necessary.
The same text stressed that its purpose was to show that there is a "living mass movement" and that "there is an organized class alternative to fascism". "We use the street to strengthen anti-fascist organization, not for disturbances without a clear horizon in the medium term," they added.