International Women’s Day was marked up and down the coast on Friday with events held by most town councils across the region.
There was a concentration held outside the town hall on Friday morning in Torrevieja while in Rafael a statement was read out in the Plaza de España by the councillor of Social Services, Noemí Cutillas. She said that “We stand here so that women can be free and so that sexist violence can be highlighted as a matter that concerns everyone throughout the whole of society.”
In Orihuela City the mayor and many of his councillors marked the day on the town hall steps during the late afternoon although, elsewhere in the municipality, earlier events had been held by AE Orihuela Costa at the Playa Flamenca Town Hall and by the Community Care Association in the Campoamor Drop in Centre where the occasion was held as a day of celebration featuring a Tai Chi display, an arts and craft exhibition, games, raffle and food.
There were events at L’Algeps and la Plaça de Baix in Elche, and over 5000 people attended a protest in the centre of Alcoy. A further 500 people marched from Plaza de Los Luceros in Alicante, while a similar number protested in la Plaza del Mercado, but despite the rallies unions and the convening organisations say that, apart from a greater visualisation of the problem, hardly any concrete steps have been taken toward ensuring the equality of the woman in her workplace, personal and family life.
Also in Alicante there were strikes in several stores, including Springfield, Carrefour and Stradivarius, as well as the General Hospitals of Alicante and Sant Joan, where workers went out to the streets to show their own solidarity.
