Dozens of people supported this Tuesday the rally “for freedom” and “against attacks on democratic memory” called by the Platform for Tolerance in Burriana (Castellón). A “completely civil” act and one of rejection of the decision of the mayor of Culture, Jesús Albiol, of Vox, to remove a plaque in memory of the victims of Franco's regime from a former convent converted into a prison after the civil war.
For the platform, the decision of the Vox councilor, against which, for the moment, the PP has done nothing, is especially serious as it violates the Democratic Memory law. Thus, they urge the restitution of the plaque “on the outside of the same space and much more visible” and the dismissal of the councilor “if he does not return it soon.”
During the rally, a manifesto was read in which it was lamented that in Burriana “they are stealing our memory, the right to our language and an education based on respect for all people”, in reference, they say, to the “ retrograde policy of hate, resentment and ideological reductionism” led by the councilor, also responsible for vetoing several magazines in Catalan from the library for considering them “promoters of separatism” and LGTBI-themed books to “protect minors from pornographic and scandalous content ”.
The removal of the plate now joins. Installed in 2016 by the previous local executive, governed in coalition by PSPV and Compromís, in the Convento de la Mercé, and at the request of the demand promoted by the La Escletxa collective, integrated into the Platform for Tolerància, it is aimed at the “memòria “of the gifts and the men who are going to suffer Franco's persecution in search of freedom.”
Between 1939 and 1942, this “unhealthy and deteriorated” space was enabled as a prison to decongest the Castellón prison, explains the Grup per la Recerca de la Mòria Històrica (GRMH). It housed 3,668 inmates (271 women and 3,397 men). Figures collected on the plaque that Albiol questions. He states that, in addition to making “political use of the victims of the civil war, pointing out the good and the bad,” there are “errors,” without clarifying which ones, and he justifies the withdrawal of the tribute, which will be relocated “to another place.” ” and “with real historical data, contrasted and investigated by the technician of the municipal museum about what happened there since that building existed.”
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The PP, at the head of the mayor's office, has criticized the unilaterality of the decision of its government partner, which it calls “unfortunate”, although it subordinates its political response to the events to the results of the report that it will commission, once they are concluded. the Fallas festivals, to the municipal archaeologist to compare the errors that Albiol cites.
From the GRMH they say: “Everything is absolutely documented.” “In 2008 we had access to the archive of the Castellón prison and, in addition to the files of all the prisoners in the province, we found the registration and discharge book of the Mercé prison, where the name of each inmate appears, their nickname, address, date of birth, age, profession and what became of them. The plaque was made from that document. We didn't invent anything,” explains Teresa Armengot, a retired history professor in Burriana and member of the memorial collective.
Under the motto Against attacks on freedom and democratic memory. Against the attacks of fascism, the protesters have demanded the restitution of the tribute: “We want a dignified, visible plaque that is located on the outside of the building, and not the cloister as until now, in memory of those who killed and tortured therein,” said Vicent Aleixandre. , from the Platform for Tolerance. If not, they demand that the mayor, the popular Jorge Monferrer, “immediately dismiss the Vox councilor for his deliberate attack against the law, democracy and freedom.”
During the protest, they reminded the councilor of the ultra formation that the laws “are there to be complied with, including those that he does not like, such as Law 20/2022 on Democratic Memory, which he has violated, which constitutes a very serious offense.” .
“The concentration is also a slap on the wrist to society, to the people: if we don't move, we expose ourselves to this. Albiol is not going to stop,” they point out from the platform, alluding to the actions of “provocation and contempt for democratic values that it is insistently carrying out.”
A few hours before the protest, the local police of Burriana removed the banners hanging on the façade of the market announcing the call. “He only removed the posters with political content, with the sole objective of silencing the concentration. Those from the churrería and the review classes are still stuck together,” they denounce from the platform.
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