Orihuela turned purple on Friday on the occasion of 8-M as the feminist wave left the Town Hall at 6:00 p.m. heading to the Glorieta Gabriel Miró. The march included many members of the town council, with the surprise being the presence of Vox, the deputy mayor, Manuel Mestre.

The presence of Santiago Abascal’s party was especially surprising, even more so as they had voted against an institutional declaration for Women’s Day at last week’s plenary session.

On Friday, however, neither the councillor Mestre nor any of his Vox colleagues had any problem joining the march and walking behind the municipal banner that carried the wording ‘Orihuela making equality a reality’.

There were some absences though, Jose Aix and the councillors from Ciudadanos, whose absence was not anticipated.

Outside of politics, the march, attracting a hundred or so participants, was carried out in a jovial atmosphere.

At the head was the banner caried by the Councilor for Equality, Agustina Rodríguez, followed by the Filarmonía-ACAMDO Band.

Next, came the municipal banner held by the mayor of Orihuela, Pepe Vegara, along with councillors from the local government. There followed a mixture of groups, associations and Oriolanos of all ages.

In front of the Glorieta pavilion, attendees listened to the words of the Councilor for Equality, who said that “we must continue to keep in mind our forerunners, all those people who risked everything to achieve equality for women.” She said that “feminism must maintain its place in all social area, only in this way will we be a society that progresses, let us not fear or despise feminism.”

The event to commemorate International Women’s Day concluded with a performance by the Oriolana singer Carolina Reymundo, who performed different songs, including ‘I will survive’, by Gloria Gaynor.