The Mayor of La Linea will lead a protest march to Algeciras tomorrow morning but the move, which has support from the highest ranks in the Popular Party, is not expected to impact on early rush-hour traffic.

There was concern that the march would block the main road into La Linea and cause havoc for people commuting to work in Gibraltar.

But a spokesman for the PP council in La Linea eased those fears yesterday.

“There is no intention of cutting the traffic,” he said. “The marchers will walk on the hard shoulder.”

 

Mayor Alejandro Sánchez believes that La Linea, which has 10,000 unemployed, has been sidelined and abandoned by the Spanish government. He said that while Gibraltar benefits from the tripartite talks, La Linea gains nothing.

The march is just one of several measures aimed at drawing attention to his claims. These include ordering the Policia Local to carry out document checks on Gibraltar-registered vehicles once they have crossed the border.

Perhaps the most controversial of those measures, however, is the mayor’s plan to charge vehicles and pedestrians heading into Gibraltar.

Despite widespread criticism both here and in Spain, Sr Sánchez and his initiatives this week received backing from the highest levels of his party.

During a visit to the Campo de Gibraltar, the PP’s national chairman, Mariano Rajoy, expressed his “maximum support” for the La Linea mayor’s position.

Sr Sánchez has asked people to convene at the border at eight in the morning. The town council expects “over 100” to attend.

The marchers will walk from the border to Campamento, where they will board buses to the outskirts of Algeciras having been banned from walking on the dual carriageway.

Dropped off on the outskirts of the port city, the protest will then march on the Spanish government’s regional office in Algeciras.

Once there Sr Sanchez will read a manifesto calling for “a definitive structural solution to La Linea’s problems.”

WIDESPREAD CONCERN

The moves by the La Linea mayor have been heavily criticised by many here, including the Voice of Gibraltar which warned that it would organise mass street protests if La Linea pushed ahead with its plan.

Sr Sánchez insists that the measures are aimed at the PSOE government in Madrid, not at Gibraltar.

But there is concern on both sides of the border that his belligerent stance could sour cross-border relations at all levels.

In Gibraltar, Nicholas Russo, the chairman of the Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce, said politicians should realise that Gibraltar and La Linea had a “symbiotic” relationship, meaning that both were in a mutually beneficial relationship born from proximity.

In a letter to this newspaper last week, he cautioned against measures that could “inflame” any underlying tensions.

Spanish workers too were concerned.

“He’s creating unnecessary tension,” said Angeles, a Spanish woman who works in Gibraltar. “This is not the way to fix La Linea’s problems.”

Sr Sánchez has said that Spanish workers in Gibraltar would not be affected by the toll because they would be given passes to avoid having to pay.

But in practice, many of the 5,000 or so Spaniards who work here do so informally. They have no contract or means of proving their employment, and thus their eligibility for a pass.

The Spanish cross-border workers association, ASCTEG, described the mayor’s toll plan as “absurd”.

It said Gibraltar was being used as a political scapegoat for the failings of La Linea and warned that the proposed measures would impact negatively on Spanish citizens who relied on Gibraltar for their income.