The rainbow flag crosses the street of Arribas de Valladolid again after being removed for 12 hours by police order. The Kafka bar in the Castilian-Leonese city has been hanging an LGTBI banner outside the premises for more than seven years, from a balcony of its building to the façade on the other side of the street. There had never been any problems with this symbol. Until this week. The Municipal Police went on Tuesday to the bar across the street, the Berlin, whose wall hung a hook, to request the removal of the banner: allegedly, some neighbors had demanded to remove it because it bothered a removal truck. The owners of the Kafka, who were caught on vacation by the police order, assure that the rainbow banner is high enough not to interfere with traffic, but they returned to comply with the order. The banner was removed on Thursday, at nine in the morning. However, at nine o’clock at night she was hanging in the street again. The popular indignation after its withdrawal was spread on social networks provoked the reaction of the City Council, which distanced itself from the actions of the local Police and allowed the LGTBI flag to be hung again. In this city, the PP governs with Vox, the ultra party being the one that manages the local Police.
David Zarain and Jorge Abril, 42 and 47 years old, opened the Kafka bar in 2016 and since then they have placed this homemade banner, with multicolored fabrics hung from one side of Arribas street to the other. This LGTBI nod was kept there, about five meters high, from Pride, in June, until the patron saint festivities in September. Large trucks loaded with fair booths or delivery vehicles for the many bars in this area near the cathedral passed below. No one complained in the seasons that it was hung there for more than seven years until on Tuesday the municipal police entered Berlin to remove it. According to the owners of the Kafka bar, the agents said that “there were complaints from a community of neighbors because a removal truck could not pass.” Abril and Zarain wonder about the size of said vehicle and compare it to “a Transformer” in the heart of Valladolid. However, much to their regret, they say that they climbed a ladder to comply with the order, “because it is better for the Police to be happy.”
Jorge Abril taking out the flag to put it back on the street.Juan Navarro García
“We do not believe in conspiracies, but it has only happened with Vox in Citizen Security and just after the general elections,” the owners say. They removed the flag, but they did not remain silent and published what happened on social networks, which generated a snowball in the Castilian-Leonese city. Shortly after the protests began, Zarain received a call from Rodrigo Nieto, councilor for Social Services (PP), assuring that no one in the Consistory knew anything about the petition against the banner. According to him, the Police confirmed the version of the truck and suggested raising the colorful decorations even more.
Zarain’s phone wouldn’t stop. According to the owner of the Kafka, the next to call was the local Police inspector, Iñaki Ayuso, who informed him of the “ex officio” actions of the agents and warned him that they were exposing themselves to fines if they tried to put up the rainbow banner again. . However, always according to the version of the pucelano, the one he called next was Nieto again, who guaranteed him that they could put the banner back.
It was almost nine at night, 12 hours after leaving the street, when Abril took a long folding ladder from a place near the Kafka and climbed on it to put up the LGTBI flag again. Before, she had cleaned the fabrics, somewhat discolored from so many months in the sun. Her partner grabbed the base and watched the tricks of her partner, doubly nervous: for returning pride to the street and for fear of falling on the eve of her wedding. “They are not going to let me into the Town Hall!”, He joked once the rainbow was restored and cheered by the tenants of the terraces, always busy in that area of Valladolid. “In seven years it has not happened and now it does, it is wild, aberrational and shameful to remove LGTBI flags or not respect the minutes of silence due to sexist violence,” says Zarain, “this is a small victory.”
Moment in which the flag was placed again in the Kafka bar.Juan Navarro García
The multicolored return satisfies Lady Veneno, a 41-year-old drag queen from Valladolid and witness to the “ceremony” for the replacement of the rainbow symbol on the street. “It is not an exclusive flag, it is not annoying or so much drama. Life is political, if the institutions polarize, people become emboldened, ”she says before Kafka. Next to him, Andrés Guerra and three friends, aged 15, look at the canvases: “Many people are removing these things just like that, but it doesn’t seem offensive to me.” Aroa Salvador, 42, drinks a beer happy with the outcome. “You have to give visibility to what exists, the change of government can have consequences like this,” he considers. A few tables further on, César Sanz, 42, has connected the dots: “First I was hallucinating, then I realized that Vox manages the Police… Who can this bother?” Sanz contemplates the banners billowing in the wind, bringing color back to the street, and reflects: “If they do things like this, we’ll be Fachadolid again.”
#hours #LGTBI #flag #removed #street #Valladolid #police #order
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