Ten thousand march against Tenerife port project

Picture courtesy of San Borondon

Saturday November 12 2011

By James Tweedie

Some ten thousand people protested against plans to build a new industrial port in southern Tenerife on Saturday.

Marches in the southern municipality of Granadilla and the island's capital Santa Cruz demanded a moratorium on works on the controversial project.

The Santa Cruz march terminated at a rally in the seafront Candelaria Square, opposite the Tenerife Cabildo (island council) building.

One small child, who rode on his father's shoulders, waved a handwritten placard reading: “Less ports, more playgrounds”.

The latest of many protests against the scheme was organised by Assembly For Tenerife (AXT), a coalition of residents' associations, environmental groups, left-wing political parties, trade unions and solidarity groups.

A delegation of biology students from the University of La Laguna were also present.

Academics and environmentalists object to the proposed new port on the grounds that works will destroy a rare marine habitat off the coast of Granadilla.

The Platform for the Defence of the Port of Santa Cruz argues that a new facility less than 50 miles south-west of the existing harbour would be pointless.

The platform also warns that a planned liquefied natural gas terminal and gasworks at Granadilla would be a “bomb” on the doorsteps of residents living just two kilometres away.

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