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FIRE

Fire in Spain’s Alicante kills two adults and young child

A fire that broke out in a building in the Alicante province town of Villajoyosa has killed a family of three, including a five-year-old boy, just ten days after the huge blaze in an apartment block in Valencia.

Published: 4 March 2024 09:47 CET
Fire in Spain's Alicante kills two adults and young child
The blaze in Villajoyosa follows another deadly fire in Valencia two weeks earlier. Photo: Wikipedia

Some 120 people were evacuated following the fire in Villajoyosa, a town on Spain’s eastern coast close to Benidorm with a large foreign population.

Fifteen lightly injured people were taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation, police told AFP.

Early reports point to the casualties being an elderly woman, her son and her five-year-old grandson.

The young boy’s body was found hugging his pet dog, which also died in the fire. 

The fire, which started at around 2:15 am (0115 GMT), was brought under control by 4:00 am.

Villajoyosa mayor Marcos Zaragoza said that the blaze that took place high up in an apartment in a 24-storey building was “a terrible tragedy”, and that even though emergency service were quick at the scene, they were unable to prevent the death of the family.

Police said it was not immediately clear what caused the blaze although media reports spoke about an overloaded plug socket.

The blaze erupted less than two weeks after another fire killed 10 people in the port city of Valencia in the same region, in a tragedy that shocked the country.

The fire in Valencia devastated a 14-storey high-rise building and an adjoining 10-storey block which together housed 138 flats.

Experts said the building was covered with highly flammable cladding, which could account for the rapid spread of the blaze.

It prompted worried property owners to seek expert advice to ally fears that their own homes could be at risk.

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VALENCIA

Why a row is brewing over Valencia’s refusal to hang the LGBTQ+ flag

A culture war battle is brewing in Valencia after the right-wing city council decided not to hang the LGBTQ+ flag on the balcony of the town hall building just a few hours before International Pride Day.

Published: 2 July 2024 10:22 CEST
Why a row is brewing over Valencia's refusal to hang the LGBTQ+ flag

This has caused outrage among the city’s LGBTQ+ community and beyond, with national politicians wading into the debate and controversial comments from city council members and even the city’s mayor.

Valencia’s city council is a coalition of the centre-right Partido Popular and far-right Vox party.

In response to the decision, the opposition PSPV then hung a huge 60 metre long LGBTQ+ flag from its party headquarters in front of the town hall.

Faced with criticism from opposition parties, the city’s PP mayor, María José Catalá, stated that the council won’t hang the flag from the town hall because, if it did, it would also be obliged to put up “all the flags and social needs” that Valencia has.

“I respect the freedom of my opposition to put up whatever they consider in their offices, but if I put up the Pride flag I also have to put up the Alzheimer’s, ALS or cancer flags,” Catalá said.

The comment has caused widespread anger. Spain’s Minister for Equality, Ana Redondo, challenged Catalá on social media. “Loving is not an illness. The WHO eliminated homosexuality from its list of psychiatric illnesses in 1990,” the minister said.

The Socialist-led Spanish government is studying whether to take legal action against Valencia’s mayor, to which she has replied “I’m not a homophobe, give it a rest!”. Other members of her government have accused the opposition of politicising Pride celebrations. 

In response to the growing criticism, sources from the town hall have stressed to Spanish state broadcaster RTVE that no flags or banners were placed on the town hall balcony because, as announced last November, they have been replaced by two digital screens which are used to celebrate international days, such as International Pride Day, which projected LGBTQ+ material in the weekend leading up.

“The problem is that you’re not in power now, and you’re bothered by the PP being in government and that we’ve celebrated Pride in our city, that’s the problem,” PP politician Rocio Gil told the Valencian City Hall.

“We’ve carried out the same celebrations that you did (Socialists) and even more activities”.

In addition, 200 posters were put up on billboards around the city, seven buses were given special LGBTQ+ designs, and the outside of the town hall itself was illuminated with a projection of the LGTBQ+ flag.

It’s not the first time that a row break outs in Spain over the refusal of right-wing governed town halls to hang LGBTQ+ flags.

In fact, Guadalajara, Toledo, Talavera de la Reina and Ciudad Real have all followed Valencia City Hall’s example this year. 

Spain consistently ranks among the most gay-friendly countries in the world according to international studies but there is opposition in some sectors of society to progressive measures such as these.

READ ALSO: Is Spain really a tolerant country when it comes to LGBTIQ+ people?

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