Anti-bases demo a damp squib

(Photo: europasur.es)

GIBRALTAR / LA LÍNEA The Plataforma Andaluza contra las Bases (Anti-Bases Platform of Andalucía) held a peaceful demonstration yesterday at the frontier, approximately coinciding with the laying of wreaths at the War Memorial on the Rock. They were protesting, for the first time ever, against the presence of a naval base and against nuclear submarines crossing the Bay of Algeciras as a result. Only about 40 people turned up for the event, a protest that had previously been held at the bases in Morón and Rota. The demonstartors included members of the Communist Party, Izquierda Unida, various unions and environmental pressure groups, among others.

Anti-military base protest scheduled for Gibraltar frontier

SPAIN (Agencies) Demonstrations are planned at the frontier with Gibraltar by a coalition of Spanish groups and organisations on November 13 to protest at military activity in Gibraltar. Before that, the group will protest at military bases at Moron (October 30) and Rota (November 6). The Plataforma Andaluza Contra las Bases is opposed to the foreign military presence in southern Spain. The 'platform' is made up of over 20 non-governmental organisations and citizen groups including Ecologistas en Acción, the Communist party and minority unions. Expected to join but as yet unannounced is the 15-M movement that started the occupation of public places in anti-capitalist protests now spread throughout the world under different names.

NCO residence goes up for auction at €1,8 million

TARIFA (Agencies) Tarifa Council has for many years asked for the old NCO residence to be returned to the municipality, but the Ministry of Defence has said that it can bebought for €1.8 million. This is not a figure the Council is willing to spend, given the neglect the building has suffered for a long time. In any case, the 1,300 m2 building was constructed on municipal land, leading the Council to see its return to the municipal patrimony as a right, or as Defence's obligation. The latter is not willing to>

Spanish air space veto on US military aircraft using Gibraltar

SPAIN/GIBRALTAR (Agencies) US military aircraft originating  or whose destibation is Gibraltar are forbidden to use Spanish air space, according to a new defence cooperation agreement signed recently between the two countries. Spain's Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE, or Official State Bulletin) yesterday published the new operating procedure that has been in operation since February 1. Article 25.8 includes 'concrete norms' for the concession and processing of flight plans for military stopovers and overflights of US military flights. The new procedure substiturtes a previous one dated in 2007 and applies to "all organizations or agencies involved in the procedures [described above] of military aircraft and those civil aircraft used for military purposes of the United States." The new regulations specify that US military aircraft "having Gibraltar as the origin or destination of flights are forbidden to fly over Spanish sovereign air space, or stop over on Spanish territory." Therefore, "no Spanish airport can be included [in a flight plan] as an alternative aerodrome."

Electromagnetic waves are 823 times above limit

TARIFA (Agencies) Electromagnetic emissions from the military radar in Tarifa (photo) are 823 times above permitted levels, according to a recent study by Geosanix, a specialized independent study. The Tarifa Contra el Radar pressure group has been battling for years but the military authorities in charge of the radar station have ignored all their complaints. Measurements indicate that emissions close to the installation are over the 800 microwatts per m2 mark, but even a kilometer away, the mark is over 140 times the permitted levels. There are considerable variations nevertheless, principally thanks to a so-called 'umbrella effect'. Still, the group insists, and has done so for a long time, that anything above 0.17 mW/m2 can be harmful to health, which means that the centre of Tarifa could be so. As a result, Tarifa Contra el Radar demands that the radar be removed to a place much further away from the town.

Five soldiers die at training explosion

MADRID (Agencies) Five men were killed yesterday at the Hoyo de Manzanares Academy where they were training in explosives. Three sargeants, one corporal and a soldier died when they were carrying out a training session in deactivating explosives, prior to their secondment to their units as UN troops in South Lebanon. Another three men were injured and were taken to the Gómez Ulloa Military Hospital in Madrid. Today there is medical concern about their prognosis.