The More Plurals platform, which brings together associations of parents of students, unions, companies and different groups in the concerted education sector, has called this Sunday demonstrations by car in some thirty provinces to show their rejection of the education law the Lomloe, known as Celaá law.
The mobilization has taken thousands of vehicles onto the streets. In Madrid, where the president of the PP, Pablo Casado, the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, some 5,000, according to the organizers, have attended the protest.
Paseo de la Castellana, waving orange flags and crying out for the resignation of the Minister of Education, Isabel Celaá.
The same estimate that has been offered by the local police in Seville – where part of the protesters have chosen to go by motorcycle, bicycle or scooter.
The demonstrations have been less numerous in the rest of the cities. In Catalonia, the Basque Country and the Valencian Community, the protest has not been called.
Belén García, a 20-year-old teacher student at the private university of Villanueva, had been in the Castellana since nine thirty handing out flags with the slogan # Stopleycelaá.
She joined the cause through Más Plurales.
“The flags have been flying from the early hours, many people walking and driving,” says this young woman, who believes that the new educational law breaks the principle of meritocracy.
“The measure of allowing students to pass the course with two failed subjects is going to create a society that does not make an effort,” he says.
The demonstration in the capital has traveled a circuit between the Plaza de Cibeles and the roundabout in Cuzco, with enough police presence to regulate traffic, which despite the influx of cars has circulated.
Blanca Segas, 36, is a teacher at a private school in the Madrid district of Arganzuela. On the poster that hangs from his shoulders, he explained his position: “Being able to choose a school is a fundamental right, imposing a single model of education on families is not tolerable.
Neither in my case have I chosen the religious model, nor in the case of those who choose the layman ”.
In Seville, the vehicles have left the gate of the Benito Villamarín stadium. In the entourage you could see many orange ribbons, green balloons and even an umbrella to cover the sun that has accompanied this morning in the Andalusian capital.
The vehicles have traveled the city to the Andalusian Parliament, where they have been divided in two so as not to cause traffic jams. In the protest, the flags of Spain and many others that read “Common sense”, “Stop Celaá law ” or “Freedom” have abounded .
“The call has been a success, the truth is that we did not expect so much participation. We are very grateful to society and families who have joined the protest against this law that is creating much concern throughout the educational community at a time as complicated as this with the pandemic, in which efforts should focus on solving a public health problem.
This is not the time to process this law, which does not allow any debate and which is being used for other political purposes ”, assured Rafael Caamaño, president of the Confederation of educational centers in Seville.
In Malaga, a noisy caravan of 1,200 cars, according to the Government Sub-delegation, has toured the historic center with orange balloons, ribbons and flags.
“The children do belong to the parents”, it was possible to read in some banners stuck to the windows and the exteriors of the vehicles, where Spanish flags have also been waved.
The protest has collapsed several streets, such as the Paseo de los Curas. In Cádiz, another hundred vehicles have traveled the capital from the Ingeniero de la Cierva Glorieta to the Plaza de San Juan de Dios, crossing the main avenue of Cádiz, reports Nacho Sánchez .
Some 1,100 cars and around 200 motorcycles have joined the Granada protest, according to the Local Police.
The demonstration began at around 11 in the morning and concluded at the edge of two in the afternoon, with the reading of a manifesto against the law and in favor of concerted education that has been read by the Granada juvenile judge, Emilio Calatayud, reports Javier Arroyo .
And in Jaén dozens of vehicles have marched in a caravan through the streets of the capital, with a high presence of councilors and other positions of the PP, collapsing traffic in the city center, reports Ginés Donaire .
In the march called in Pamplona “for the right to choose the education we want” several dozen cars participated in a caravan that grew as it moved through the neighborhoods until it ended at the Public University of Navarra where, according to local police , they have gathered around a thousand vehicles.
The whistles have been a constant from the beginning to the end.
