Repainted overnight, a dozen multi-coloured zebra crossings lasted less than 12 hours
The deputy mayor, Rafael Almagro, has ordered the immediate repainting to white of 12 zebra crossings in Orihuela city that were hijacked by the Department for Equality last week, when they were all painted in rainbow colours to show the city’s support for LGBTI Pride.
Almagro said that the zebra crossings must be painted white “immediately” because the action was carried out by the Councillor for Culture, Mar Ezcurra (Cs), without any written authorisation from the Local Police.
“It’s about re-establishing things to legality,” he said. “If there was an accident and a driver alleged that he did not see a pedestrian crossing, what would happen? It would be the responsibility of the City Council. Traffic signs and their official identification must be complied with, “he added.
The situation has caused an even more confrontation between the two groups that make up the coalition government. While the PP insists that it is a question of road safety, the Councillor for Culture, Mar Ezcurra (Cs), accuses its partners “of being uncomfortable in making the LGTBI community visible”. “Once again we are witnessing another example of how the council is completely misusing public resources.”
The Councillor for Culture says that she cannot understand the decision, which she insists had the approval of the Local Police. She said that the told the police of the initiative a number of weeks. “They said yes, without any problem as long as we used homologated paint.”
She added that the Local Police were aware that work was being carried out throughout the night. However the following morning the Almagro immediately ordered that the crossings be returned to their original state.
Meanwhile the opposition PSOE accused the government of being “completely disorganised with a lack of coordination.” They say that it is not logical that one of the actions taken by the Department of Culture to commemorate the day of Pride be revoked without and further explanation.
In addition to organising a number of activities in the city and on the coast to celebrate LGBTI Pride, the council has decorated several streets and buildings in the municipality with rainbow colours. Multicolored umbrellas were displayed in C/Lopez Pozas and C/San Pascual and there was a large rainbow flag hung over the balcony of the City Hall.
Galindo also announced the recent introduction of an institutional email address, “where citizens can anonymously notify the authorities of any discriminatory incident toward a group according to their ethnic or national origin, language, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation or any other circumstance. The email is orihuelasinodio@orihuela.es and it will be monitored by council staff.
