About fifty people, gathered by Colectivos en Lucha Extremadura, assembled this Saturday in Mérida carrying the Palestinian flag to call for an end to the genocide in Gaza and to oppose the European Parliament’s Migration and Asylum Pact approved last April.
They argued that both issues strike at human dignity and life, and that the public has not yet grasped the full consequences. Raúl Gijón, a member of Colectivos en Lucha, told reporters that solidarity with those who are suffering is essential and that Extremadura, its people, and their way of life deserve defense.
Among the demands voiced outside the Roman Theater in Mérida, just hours before the awards for Extremadura medals were to be presented, were calls for high-quality public healthcare and more places in public elder care facilities.
Support from the gatherings also included members of the platforms Salvemos la Montaña in Cáceres and No a la mina de Canaveral. Their president, Elvira Díaz, noted that another core reason for the protest is the concession of regional lands to large companies that could become sacrifice zones to impose a green energy transition or a false ecological shift.
“Anything planned, beyond solar panels and wind turbines, could transform Extremadura within twenty years into a version of itself that is unrecognizable,” Díaz warned, lamenting that projects like the lithium mine in Canaveral would affect not only the natural environment and aquifers but also the residents who might end up with water scarcity.
“If all these projects were pursued, the Extremadura we know today would no longer exist,” Díaz added in the voice of the demonstrators gathered outside the venue.
25 March as Extremadura Day
In this context, Irene de Miguel, spokesperson for Unidas por Extremadura, stated that her group will not attend the institutional medal ceremony, preferring to stand with social movements instead. She warned that the region faces a serious challenge from mining projects and urged vigilance against concessions that could erode local resources.
De Miguel criticized how Extremadura could become a generous target for multinational corporations that would extract regional resources at little cost, a point echoed by the crowd shouting slogans like Renovables sí, pero no así (Renewables yes, but not like this).
After congratulating the medal recipients on Saturday night, Unidas por Extremadura argued in favor of honoring Extremadura on March 25, a date they say embodies values such as care, the common good, perseverance, and the refusal to become a land of sacrifice imposed from outside.
The call to make March 25 the community’s day also referenced a historic moment: in 1936, thousands of peasants occupied lands in the province of Badajoz. Demonstrators carried banners proposing their own medals for territories that will become lands of sacrifice, for the groups working toward a compassionate Extremadura, and for those striving to improve public health and education.
These sentiments were echoed in the crowd’s chants and the placards that spoke to solidarity, ecological responsibility, and a steadfast commitment to social welfare within Extremadura, while staying cautious about external interests that might shape the region’s future power and resource management.
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