The xenophobic demonstration against migrants scheduled for this Saturday at 11:00 in front of the Town Hall of Santa Úrsula and supported by Vox is based on false information.
In a statement released on Thursday to the media, a neighbourhood association from Santa Úrsula, joined by another from La Laguna, asserts that they will gather “against the establishment” of various reception centres for illegal immigrants arriving on our land in the santaursulero municipality. The slogan for the protest is “Stop immigrant centres”.
This information is inaccurate. The Santa Úrsula municipal government had already warned about it a month ago through their social media profiles, and reiterated it in Thursday’s council session: the opening of any reception centre for migrant minors is not planned in this municipality, a fact that the santaursulero government team would not oppose even if it were to be considered in the future.
Despite this response, the neighbourhood associations held a gathering at the end of last March (with attendance not exceeding a few dozen) and maintain the call for another xenophobic concentration this Saturday, 6th April.
In the invitation note, the neighbourhood representation of Santa Úrsula ensures that they will be accompanied by the Rodeo Alto Neighbourhood Association, from the municipality of La Laguna, whose representatives live in the vicinity of the Las Raíces barracks, where one of the migrant reception centres in Tenerife is located. “They are already experiencing these very serious problems and will testify to how their daily lives have changed since the reception centre was implemented in their neighbourhood,” the statement says.
“Immigrants, far from integrating, turn the environment in which they are placed into real hotspots of unsanitary conditions and insecurity,” states the xenophobic concentration call
“Immigrants, far from integrating, turn the environment in which they are placed into real hotspots of unsanitary conditions and insecurity,” the statement points out. The spokesperson for the organizing platform, Santa Úrsula resident Flor Hernández, when asked about specific problems, said: “We don’t have any specific data. We refer to what the Rodeo Alto neighbours tell us,” who, according to her, “talk about robberies and the presence of pimps around the immigrant centre.”
Vox Representative in Santa Úrsula, the only councillor supporting the gathering scheduled for this Saturday despite the denial from the regional government
All groups voted against (PSOE, PP, and AISU-CC) except for the far-right party that presented the motion. Faced with the successive questioning from the Vox councillor about the veracity of the official statement issued by the council on social media, the mayor, Juan Manuel Acosta (AISU-CC), distributed a copy of the entry record of that document during the council session.
Nevertheless, the Santa Úrsula government has not refused at any time to host a reception centre for unaccompanied migrant children, nor does it believe that there are reasons for concern.
Despite the denial from the Town Council and the Government of Canarias, the neighbourhood associations are continuing with the concentration this Saturday under the slogan “Stop immigrant centre”.
