Incidents during another Carnival in Tenerife. The Icod de los Vinos City Council has reported that on the morning of this Tuesday, a group of individuals were involved in the pedestrian areas of the town centre apparently in protest against the cancellation of Carnival events due to adverse weather conditions.
As per official sources from the Icodense Council, these disturbances led to the burning of containers and attacks on urban furniture, causing damage to several shops in the vicinity and the facades of some residences. This was confirmed by the City Council itself on its social media profiles, where it “strongly condemns the acts of vandalism that have occurred recently.”
In addition to this vandalism, the mayor, Javier Sierra, has experienced various insults, many of which were homophobic in nature, after this Saturday, March 1, the City Council decided to suspend the grand Queen’s choice gala and the Arena Carnival finale due to an alert for rain and potential snowfall.
The Civil Guard and Firefighters responded after multiple residents reported the burning of some containers on the street. “We want to extend our gratitude for the prompt action of the Tenerife Firefighters Consortium and the Civil Guard in extinguishing the fire and ensuring the safety of the residents,” stated the town hall on their social media platforms.
In addition to those containers, some of the perpetrators of these vandalistic acts also targeted planters and other elements of urban furnishings. According to municipal sources, it is believed that this was a reaction from certain carnival groups against the cancellation of events due to rainfall. The mayor has already instructed this Tuesday that the debris left in the streets by these deplorable acts be removed.
The mayor of Icod de los Vinos, Javier Sierra, expressed his stance with “enough” in comments made to El Día this Tuesday. Sierra stated that he feels “fed up” with the homophobic slurs and other instances of hooliganism perpetrated by a very small fraction of the population in recent months. “We will commence taking measures and evaluating what type of municipality the residents desire,” he remarked.
The Icod City Council also links the recent homophobic insults to the cancellation of carnival activities due to weather alerts. However, it must be noted that this is not the first instance Javier Sierra has faced such attacks.
During the summer of last year, the mayor expressed his frustration with these incidents. After enduring continuous harassment, including graffiti in the town’s main square and insults on social media, the leader of the Icodense City Council, one of the most populated areas in the north of Tenerife (over 22,000 residents), took to the same social media to denounce the occurrences.
This incident occurred in July 2024. The mayor shared two images showing messages stating “Javi Sierra is Gay” and “Sierra, we do not love you,” alongside a screenshot of a social media message that read: “Spend your money fixing the town, queer.” He added a comment stating: “Daily, I receive messages like these. Additionally, there have also been instances of graffiti on the walls of Andrés de Lorenzo Cáceres square (October 2023) and outside my residence (August 2017).
The situation has escalated to legal proceedings. In October of last year, the Magistrate of the Court of Instruction Number 1 in the Icodense area summoned five locals who are currently under investigation for allegedly sending insults and threats to Sierra via social media. The same mayor also appeared in court to give testimony on August 21, 2024.
There are few precedents where a mayor’s complaint regarding attacks received on their social media profiles has progressed this far in the Canary Islands. The Civil Guard has initiated an investigation into the incidents. They interviewed Sierra and requested the offensive messages he had received on his social media.
After the investigations were carried out and several individuals believed to have sent these messages were identified, the armed body submitted the report to the Icod courts. Upon reviewing the complaint, the judge of the Court of Instruction Number 1 initiated proceedings and had five individuals testify regarding these offensive messages and threats.
One of the initiatives that the Icodense mayor will pursue is a campaign to raise awareness in schools against hooliganism and attacks on individual freedoms. Furthermore, he will conduct a consultation to ascertain what additional measures can be implemented to counteract “this trend.” “I will do everything in my power to help construct a better municipality that respects public heritage and diversity.” “We have reached a breaking point; this cannot continue,” concluded Javier Sierra.
