Thousands of people in northwestern Spain held a “surfing and turf” protest on board and on land on Saturday, against planned textile mills and reopening copper mines.
Protesters in coastal cities along the coastal cities in the Galicia region of Spain condemned what they said was the environmental risks posed by these two facilities.
Organizers – calling the rally “surfing and turf” protests – said they doubted plans by Portuguese company Altri to build a factory to make a semi-synthetic textile Lyocell.
They said they were worried that it was just a cellulose plant that would pollute the Ulloa River and its Arousa estuary in the area.
The site of the factory is located in Palas de Rei, close to the pilgrimage route of Santiago de Compostela, used by hundreds of thousands of people every year.
Organizers – self-described platform defending the estuary of the Arousa River – said they also opposed the plan to reopen the open copper mine in Touro, east of Santiago de Compostela. The mine was closed in 1986.
Greenpeace Regional Representative Manoel Santos said the Altri textile factory “may be spelled as death at the estuary of the Arousa River.”
The Galician regional government announced that the plant is ecologically feasible.
A spokeswoman for Greenfiber, Altri’s Altri subsidiary, which runs the project, denied any pollution risks. She told Galicia Public Television that the factory “carefully respects all EU environmental rules”.
al/rmb/jj
