“This year’s motto is against hate, visibility, Pride and resilience. They are three words that have accompanied me throughout my life ”, the Eurovision finalist began her speech. Chanel Terrero, third in the last festival representing Spain, had been chosen to read the proclamation of the Pride of Madrid (MADO) in the Plaza de Pedro Zerolo, in the heart of Chueca.
Pride 2022 concerts in Madrid: dates, times and venues
Know more
“Many of you will have experienced the rejection for simply being, but I am going to fight every day of my life so that many of you have the pride that you deserve to have,” he read from the stage. His words were received with applause and shouts from the entire square, which also hummed SloMo, kicking off what will be a week full of music and vindication in the capital.
The call served to gather thousands of spectators, who filled the capacity of the square and forced the Municipal Police to cut off access during Chanel’s proclamation, in a scene that was reminiscent of when the singer performed in the Plaza Mayor during the past Festivities of San Isidro. The difference is that the public was more vindictive and did not overlook the insults to the first mayor’s party at City Hall: “Mayor, asshole, give me back my Pride”, the square chanted several times.
A few blocks from that place and at the same time that the singer made her proclamation, some 300 people protested with a sit-in for the cancellation of the concerts in the Plaza del Rey, which had been renamed these days by MADO as Queens Square and planned to hold more than twenty performances. Few slogans were heard, although all of indignation directed at the City Council: “Where are they, can’t they see, the fucking works of the PP”, was one of the most chanted.
The organization has lamented that the City Council did not accelerate the works in the nearby Barquillo street, whose extension has prevented the necessary municipal permits for musical performances. Although he does not lose hope of relocating the performances to another new stage in the Plaza de Barceló starting on Friday, they announced this afternoon.
The mayor is removed from Pride
The city’s mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, will remain absent from the Pride events. This Wednesday he confirmed that he was not going to be at the reading of the proclamation or at the demonstration on Saturday, which will end in Colón. “I didn’t go in previous years either, and absolutely nothing happened,” he apologized to the journalists. All despite the fact that he claims to claim “Pride in Madrid” and that the consistory collaborates with his organization and is the main sponsor.
The municipal representation in the Pride acts is headed this year by Begoña Villacís, who from the Vice Mayor’s Office has coordinated the preparations with the intention of facilitating the festive event that more people attend in Madrid, although later there are areas in the hands of the PP that have not helped so much. This is the case of the Environment, which refused to grant the general exemption to the noise limits, for which the MADO ended up protesting this Tuesday.
Some organizing groups of MADO have openly confronted the mayor and have branded him “homophobic” for refusing to hang the rainbow flag from Cibeles, as was customary during Manuela Carmena’s term. The confrontation has been brewing for several months, but it broke out the day the Pride program was presented, with two PP councilors leaving the room outraged by the criticism leveled at the mayor.
One of the councilors who left was José Fernández, in charge of coordinating part of the permits for the performances as a councilor for the Centro district, where most of the stages are located. Fernández, who last year declared his homosexuality in an interview, participated this Wednesday in the inauguration of the square dedicated to Raffaella Carrá.
www.eldiario.es