The residents of Playa de Tauro beach this Thursday began to dismantle what they called the “illegal fence” preventing them from accessing the beach in front of their homes. According to Los Verdes, the Green party of Mogán, in a statement, the Costas, coastal authority, has decreed the opening of Playa de Tauro following a complaint made by the party last December to the Prosecutor’s Office.
The Greens denounced “the abuses that have been repeatedly committed against the residents of Playa de Tauro and the environment and the preliminary procedure opened in the European Union against the Spanish state after taking over the Petitions Commission.”
Paco Ojeda, spokesman for Los Verdes de Mogán, explained that “they are fed up” with 15 years of abuse, especially after the signing of the act of reversal for the Tauro concession, scheduled for Wednesday may 12, was postponed without warning, while waiting for the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) to rule on a precautionary measure that the company, Anfi Tauro SA, had requested to stop the official act of reversal.
This morning local neighbours have decided to dismantle the fences with their own hands, a task that they started early and took several hours. Ojeda says that it is incredible that for 15 years all the administrations have turned a blind eye to the neighbours and the existence of a desalination plant that, despite repeated complaints from the Greens, continues to pour brine into the bathing area. In fact this same pipe, first denounced as early as 2006, was subsequently covered over by the imported sands, extracted illegally from the disputed territory of Western Sahara, in 2016, and the subsequent pollution being pumped under the sands from the outlet was confirmed earlier this year after a technical exploration by the costal authorities.
Brine outlet from desalination plant on Tauro Beach, Gran Canaria
In Ojeda’s opinion “this fence is violating the transit easement and access easement to the sea; justice has proved us right and it will be eliminated”
Recently, the president of the Committee on Petitions, Dolores Montserrat, in addition to communicating their acceptance of the petition “because it is within the scope of European action”; communicated to the European Commission the need to carry out a preliminary investigation into 15 years of violations of one of the main values on which the European Union is based, enshrined in article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union, which is the rule of law. On the basis that the powers of the Spanish state have apparently allied themselves with a company (ANFI TURO SA) to expel the residents from what was a natural beach so as to be able to build a luxury urbanisation, which has subsequently been cancelled due to a range of irregularities.
The Spanish Coastal Auhtority, the Demarcation of the Coasts of Las Palmas, had summoned the Anfi group representatives to physically come to the beach this week and sign the final document relinquishing their 2015 concession to exploit the beach, but were ignored by the Timeshare company, who claimed the process was still subject to judicial processes. The Costas have now demanded, according to press reports, that Anfi Tauro SA present themselves in ten days time to sign the document recovering Tauro beach to state control. The head of the Costas, Rafael López Orive, sent an official letter summoning the concessionary company on May 24 to sign the act of reversal and delivery of the concession of the 11,200 square meters of public maritime domain land back to the Spanish State, who in turn have instructed the local government of Mogán to take responsibility for reopening the public beach, after 5 years fenced off and in legal limbo.
This appointment will take into account the soon expected decisions adopted by the TSJC, Canary Islands High Court, to resolve precautionary measures that were requested by the company preventing the act from being signed yesterday and the State from recovering the beach. According to local news portal La Provincia, López Orive and the company’s lawyers went to the cove yesterday, but no document was signed.
