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Brexit

La Linea united in face of Brexit challenge

Photo by Brian Reyes

By Brian Reyes and Maria Jesus Corrales

Thousands of people marched from the centre of La Linea to the border on Friday evening to call for a Brexit treaty that guaranteed frontier fluidity vital to thousands of families and businesses in the Spanish border city.

The demonstration, convened by La Linea mayor Juan Franco, sought too to place a spotlight on the city’s unique circumstances as Gibraltar’s nearest neighbour and “the only municipality in mainland Europe with a Brexit border”.

Some 15,000 people cross the border daily to work, relying on the Rock for employment and working across all areas of Gibraltar’s economy, from healthcare to the leisure industry. In La Linea itself, many businesses also rely on Gibraltarian customers as the mainstay of their income.

When the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016, it dealt a massive blow not just to Gibraltar but to La Linea too. That uncertainty remains to this day on both sides of the border and was on clear display on Friday evening.

The demonstration set off from the Plaza Fariñas, which was heaving with bars and restaurants overflowing ahead of the march.

But as it set off to the border at 8pm, the scale of the demonstration seemed to take even the organisers by surprise.

Spanish police put the figure at around 10,000, though La Linea’s city council said as many as 12,000 may have attended. In reality, it was hard for anyone to calculate such was the mass of people.

At the head of the demonstration were Mr Franco and councillors from his La Linea 100x100 party, but also other political leaders from La Linea including Gemma Araujo, the city’s former socialist mayor, and Susana Gonzalez from the Partido Popular.

When they reached the border, the sea of people still stretched back toward the city centre, an overwhelming show of unity in the face of the most serious challenge facing the city in decades.

Addressing the crowds opposite the border, Mr Franco highlighted “…the unity on show here in the face of the biggest challenge we have faced since 1969, when the border was closed and we lost nearly 30,000 citizens who emigrated in the space of a year.”

“We cannot allow a repeat of that situation,” he said, to cheers and applause.

“All of us here have family who are in Barcelona, in London, in Australia and in the farthest places of the planet, because we were condemned to hunger by a dictatorship.”

“We have to carry on fighting for our jobs, for our businesses, for our future, and that of our children.”

‘A LOT AT STAKE’

In the crowds were placards calling for a “deal now”, a sentiment shared by pretty much everyone there.

Victoria Jiménez, who has worked for 17 years in Gibraltar, was clear as to why she was there.

“We have a lot at stake,” she said.

“The whole city needs to be in the streets to demand a resolution to Brexit.”

“We are scared because many people depend on Gibraltar.”

There were people of ages and walks of life at the march, including entire families, and the mood was upbeat despite the seriousness of the situation, with people empowered by the massive show of popular support for the demonstration.

María Teresa, whose grandchildren are Spanish workers in Gibraltar, also had no doubt as to why she was present.

“All my kids, my grandchildren, are working in Gibraltar,” she said.

“I grew up thanks to Gibraltar. I also worked there, as did my father. Everyone. We have no choice but to defend it because it's all we have.”

Mercedes, also from La Línea, echoed the same message.

“Gibraltar is a factory for the people of La Línea,” she said.

“If 15,000 people are left without jobs, La Línea will collapse.”

“We need to support the town and see if someone listens to us. The youth have no jobs here. The institutions have abandoned us.”

Zaira, who has worked in Gibraltar for six years as a nursing assistant, said the Rock offered employment stability she could not find in Spain.

“We are university graduates, trained professionals, people without resources, and thanks to Gibraltar, we have a stability that we don’t have here,” she said.

“I don’t know what it would be like without an agreement, not just for La Línea, but for the entire region, including people from Sabinillas and Málaga who come to work.”

“Finally, this town has united for something.”

This was the common refrain among all those gathered there on Friday night.

“La Línea and Gibraltar are all one family, and we are in danger if an agreement that should have been closed a long time ago is not reached,” said Antonia Moya, another La Linea resident.

Mr Franco thanked people from Gibraltar and from other municipalities who attended the demonstration. In reality though, the bulk of the support was from La Linea.

One person, Hillary Walker, a Londoner who has lived in Spain for three decades, held Gibraltar and EU flags near the front of the march. She had previously protested against Brexit too.

“I have worked for a long time in Gibraltar, and my daughter is now 18 years old,” she said.

“She is bilingual and will also have to work in Gibraltar in the future.”

“It’s very important that the border remains open.”

“Everyone simply wants an open border because they need to make a living.”

“It’s crucial for the economy of La Línea and also for Gibraltar, the two are very connected.”

‘TURNING POINT’

The call for negotiators to conclude a UK/EU treaty for Gibraltar was loud and clear, but it was accompanied too with a message to Madrid.

While the Spanish Government has engaged with Campo mayors to keep them informed on the progress of the negotiation, the sense in La Linea is that its particular circumstances risk being blurred by the demands of neighbouring municipalities that have less at stake.

That, and the inevitable domestic politics that seep into public discourse.

“We’re at an important turning point,” Mr Franco told those gathered at the border.

“Our city has for decades suffered serious problems, unemployment, lack of education, low income, low life expectancy etc etc etc.”

“After the Brexit vote in 2016, we knew there were two possible scenarios.”

“One was a threat, because without a flexible border we would have all sorts of problems.”

“But also hope that this could represent a point of departure to signal before and after in our city.”

“Sadly, we’ve been waiting for eight years for this negotiation to end and sadly, two weeks ago we had a small example of what we can expect if there is no deal.”

Mr Franco said La Linea was demanding “exceptional measures” including investment in training and infrastructure. La Linea, he said, has “no plan B”.

“There’s no other place in Europe where 15,000 people cross a border every day to work in the neighbouring and earn an honest living,” he said.

“Or our businesses, who depend on custom from people from Gibraltar.”

And he said “our story is being stolen” by other municipalities in the Campo whose leaders were voicing concerns about Brexit when La Linea was the main party impacted on the Spanish side of the border.

“The truth is that the main party affected by Brexit is La Linea, its businesses, its workers, its pensioners,” Mr Franco said.

“Any person living here will be affected by what happens with this border, fence, or whatever you want to call it.”

“And we cannot accept that some people are trying to sell another version.”

“Of course the Port of Algeciras is very important, and I wish it the best, but Brexit obviously is not going to impact the Port of Algeciras as it is going to impact our city.”

La Linea businessman Lorenzo Pérez Periáñez, who for years has participated in the Cross-Frontier Group as president of La Linea’s small businesses association, was also present at the demonstration.

“This is about people, about human relations,” he said.

“To have a hard border would be like having another Berlin wall.”

“It would be a political failure if communities on either side of the border end up being separated again.”

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