Spanish Unionists To Attempt To Occupy Gibraltar In Tax Haven Protest

An activist trade union in Spain’s southern region of Andalusia, the Andalusian Workers’ Union (SAT), has announced it intends to “occupy the Rock of Gibraltar” with 1,000 protestors, flags and banners on August 29 to demonstrate against tax havens, fishing rights, the British military base and sovereignty.

Diego Cañamero, the spokesman for the SAT trade union, told The Spain Report by phone that: “Our action is about justice. There is an economic crisis, with 37% unemployment in Andalusia, and on the Rock there are 80,000 public companies, and millions and millions of euros from all the corruption on the Costa del Sol”.

The SAT, which has members all over Andalusia, took the decision during its national assembly meeting on July 13 and would like the protest to take place in front of Gibraltar government buildings, once across the border.

The trade union has approximately 20,000 members but Mr. Cañamero explained they didn’t want more than about 1,000 to attend, because they wanted to keep the march peaceful: “with more than 1,000 protestors, you get more violent people infiltrating the protest”.

Both Mr. Cañamero and the well-known militant leader of the SAT trade union, regional United Left MP Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, will attend the protest on August 29, for which the slogan will be: “No to tax havens and military bases”.

The SAT supports the idea of Andalusian sovereignty and believes Gibraltar belongs not just to Spain but to Andalusia.

“I believe the Rock is Andalusian territory”, said Mr. Cañamero: “it’s our land, in the same way we protest over the military bases in Morón and Rota”.

In a statement posted on its website, the trade union explained that: “Our nation’s sovereignty is prevented by the Spanish Constitution, which prevents the Andalusian people’s right to self-determination. The Kingdom of Spain does not recognise our sovereignty.”

“But we also have a small piece of our land occupied by a foreign power, in this case Great Britain. Gibraltar is a British colonial enclave in Andalusia.”

A spokesman for the Royal Gibraltar Police told The Spain Report that they were aware of the SAT announcement, and that the police force does have a contingency plan in case a group of Spaniards attempts to cross the border.

He declined to make any comment at this stage on what that operation might involve.

If the Spanish and Gibraltar authorities do not allow the protestors to cross the border, Mr. Cañamero said they intend to hold the assembly protest on the border itself.

Two years ago, in August 2012, the Andalusian Workers’ Union made headlines in Spain after some 200 members, led by Mr. Sánchez Gordillo and Mr. Cañamero, took “basic necessities” out of supermarkets by “purchasing without money” during a strike action.

The regional Andalusian Supreme Court said that Mr. Sánchez Gordillo had: “not exceeded constitutionally guaranteed limits” on the right to strike or union action, but recognised that the SAT’s militancy and operational capacity was “notorious”.

The Gibraltar government was not available for comment at the time of publication, and the British and Spanish Foreign Offices had not replied to this newspaper’s requests for comment.

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