Saucepan protest brings Chueca to boil

"I had a dream that I would turn up on my own with a saucepan," said Javier Mantrana, the creator of a Facebook page that has brought together a protest against the Madrid city government for its new regulations for the Gay Pride festival, a few days ago. On Monday evening, around 400 people were present in the main square of the Chueca neighborhood, the hub of Gay Pride. "We weren't that many [on the internet more than a thousand had signed up] but neither could we be underestimated," said Mantrana.

But what occurred after the noisy congregation on Monday? Mantrana explains: "The assembly decided to march through the streets of Chueca. Two destinations were mooted; [Chueca residents' association president Esteban] Benito's house, or that of [Madrid Mayor Alberto] Ruiz-Gallardón. A group of 200 people ended up outside the house of the mayor. After 15 minutes of peaceful but noisy action, and just as the group had decided to return to Chueca, somebody said that Gallardón had arrived. People started to jeer and were rebuked. We asked for silence, but it's difficult to stop people shouting."

In video footage of the incident, Ruiz-Gallardón is seen talking to the multitude. "My office is open to you all," he tells them. After being interrupted by cries of "liar," the mayor continues: "My wife and children live here. Doing this to my family is not right." He was unable to say anything else: the pandemonium followed him to his house where he eventually arrived, surrounded by protestors.

The deputy mayor, Manuel Cobo, said that Ruiz-Gallardón was "pursued, insulted, rebuked and coerced" while walking with his family for 15 minutes, with an "impunity" that is being shown, in his opinion, "on too many occasions." The city's environment chief, Ana Botella, wife of former Prime Minister José María Aznar, asserted that the incident "deserves universal reproach."

Regional Socialist deputy Carla Antonelli wrote on Facebook: "I left when the meeting in the square ended. I condemn it - it was not the purpose of the rally.

All of the organizations involved in the stand-off over Gay Pride were unanimous in their disapproval. The organizers of the annual event roundly condemned the incident. "The actions of a few cannot prevail over dialogue," said the Spanish Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexual (FELGTB), the Madrid Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Collective Organization (COGAM) and the Association of Professionals and Businesses for Gays and Lesbians of Madrid (AEGAL).

The Socialist Party spokesman in Madrid, Jaime Lissavetzky, has called for "flexibility" on the part of City Hall so that "Gay Pride can maintain its position as a reference point." Lissavetzky went on to condemn "any persecution of any citizen in the public streets."

The protest was sparked by the decision of the city's environment department to veto the installation of a fifth stage at this year's event in the Chueca square, the "neurological center" of Gay Pride. The city council had agreed to allow the four existing stages to crank up the volume, but refused the proposal for a fifth on the basis of a new noise pollution law, approved in February, that impedes the council from making exceptions within 150 meters of senior citizens' residences or health centers and emergency rooms.

The residents' association of Chueca threatened to take City Hall to court if it contravened its own regulation. The grouping, presided by Benito, also advocated banning temporary bars in the street and proposed an alternative cultural agenda. Another residents' group, Chueca for Diversity, with Alfonso Llopart at its head, has given its backing to the organizers of Gay Pride.

The protestors convened once more on Tuesday evening, again drawn together via internet forums and armed with saucepans and whistles. But there were fewer people than on Monday, around 70 or 80. They managed to make plenty of noise nonetheless, beating out a rhythm and shouting slogans: "Gay Pride belongs to Chueca," "Botella, resign," and other such chants.

Gallardón has promised to meet with the organizers of Gay Pride next Tuesday. Until then, the protests are scheduled to continue.