Over a hundred locals turned up to protest over the closure of the Almuñécar Municipal Market yesterday morning.

The protest was convoked by the PSOE and CA opposition parties; the leaders of both parties addressed the crowd.

The socialist leader (PSOE) Rocío Palacios, called upon the Mayor’s coalition allies to break ranks and allow her to call a vote of no confidence. The said coalition parties are: PP, IU & Podemos and Adelante Andalucia.

The Mayor, Trinidad Herrera, only has a majority of one, thanks to the far-left party allying with the conservative governing party.

Politics in Almuñécar can best be described as Benavides against the rest so that all kinds of strange bed fellows join together to keep Benavides out of office, regardless of the fact that he has continually been the most-voted candidate in recent elections.

As for Sr. Benavides, when it came to his turn to address the crowd, he pointed out that everybody had been evicted from the market upon closure Friday and the building occupied by the Policía Municipal during the night. When stallholders turned up Saturday morning to remove their equipment etc, some found that the roller shutters had been forced during the night, according to Sr. Benavides.

Apparently, the police, believing that some stallholders had hidden themselves inside their stalls, had broken into them to make sure nobody was inside. However, the police deny this but even so some affected stallholders have reported this incident before the Guardia Civil.

Editorial comment: It really does look like the Mayor has dropped a clanger over this one as many people have felt offended by her alleged high-handed attitude over the eviction.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)