Madrid authorises oil prospecting in Canaries

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

You mean one that's not our rig? 

[Guanche]

I think the rascal is our rig Myrtle

[Janet]

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Madrid might have refused permission for the Canaries to hold a referendum, but the public manifestations yesterday made it quite clear what the opinion of the majority of Canarians is without the need for any vote. Soundings - political rather than geological - suggest that seven out of ten oppose the plans, and in Tenerife alone, tens of thousands of people gathered in the Avenida de Anaga in Santa Cruz under the Una Sola Voz banner called for by the Canarian government. They were joined by similar protests in all the other islands, everyone clamouring against Madrid's plans for oil exploration off Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.

Local press is reporting that just before 6pm when the protest was due to start, the capital's tram service was completely overwhelmed with people carrying banners arriving to take part. Indeed, the protest spilled over from the planned route along Avenida de Anaga into Plaza Weyler, Calle Castillo, and the port and auditorium.It is not oil that will be poured on the troubled waters of Madrid's plans for drilling in the Canaries if yesterday is anything to go by. JA

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Wow, that is a hell of a large area.  That must have been some sight.

[Janet]

Although the formal ruling won't be released for a day or so, Spain's Supreme Court has rejected seven appeals which had been presented against Repsol's oil prospecting off the eastern Canaries by the Canarian government, the Lanzarote and Fuerteventura cabildos, ecology group Ben Magec, the César Manrique foundation, the WWF and Izquierda Unida. The court confirmed the validity of decree 524/2012  of 16 March by which the government approved permits allowing investigation. With the support of the top court in the country, there would seem to be no further legal route for objections to stop the plans proceeding. JA

[Janet]

Madrid has now formally authorized Repsol to start exploratory soundings in the waters between the Canaries and Morocco. The company will have to provide public liability insurance of €40m as well as a €20m financial guarantee against environmental risks. The official go-ahead has been published today in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE): up to three soundings are approved - Sandía (3,170m depth), Chirimoya (3,000m), and Zanahoria (6,900m). JA

[Janet]

A Greenpeace zodiac craft has been rammed by the Spanish navy, as filmed in the above clip. MEP Ernest Urtasun, ICV member who is part of the Green group in the European parliament, said that an "urgent motion" about the incident will shortly be lodged with the full session of the European Commission in Strasbourg.

The video clearly  shows the navy craft ramming the Greenpeace launch, and despite the inevitable war of words over the navy's interpretation of its action and the causes behind it, Canarian-born Madrid Industry minister José Manuel Soria says that public order and freedom of activity will be preserved in the area.

Canarian president Paulino Rivero was in no doubt as to where blame should be attributed. It was Madrid, rather than the navy specifically, he said, which had not hesitated to use violence against a peaceful protest. Given the opposition to the drilling, and the personal animosity between Rivero and Soria, the regional president could be expected to make as much mileage out of the incident as possible, but regardless of all considerations, the above images are compelling, and undeniable. The Spanish navy rammed a Greenpeace protest launch in high sea. One Greenpeace crew member was injured but is said to be well in hospital in Gran Canaria. JA

[Nova]

They rammed more than once???

[Janet]

at least three times, seems to me ...

[Nova]

That's what I counted too but I wasn't sure whether it was just different footage of the same attack.  Bloody hell, somebody needs to answer for that