A roaring, wheel-spinning and smoking exhibition of Formula 1 cars filled Passeig de Gràcia in central Barcelona this Wednesday with fans - 38,000, according to city police - who wanted to see the drama of these race cars ripping through the heart of their city. But very close by, you could also hear the voices of the people of Barcelona who were opposed to this exhibition. Around 500 people, according to police, or three thousand according to the organizers, responded to the call to mobilize, with more than two hundred neighbourhood and social associations in the city represented in a protest against what they have defined as "the conversion of the city into a theme park". Initially concentrated at the intersections between Carrer Aragó and Carrer Balmes, they finally advanced until close to Passeig de Gràcia, until a cordon of the Mossos d'Esquadra blocked their way, without the situation becoming tense.
"We have to tell Jaume Collboni that Barcelona is not an amusement park and that he is not the director of Port Aventura, he is the mayor of Barcelona", said Jordi Elgström, spokesperson for Eixample Respira ("Eixample breathes"), one of the bodies gathered under the demonstration's slogan Fora Fórmula Fum ("Get Out, Formula Smoke"). From neighbourhood associations to school PTA groups, they came to support the protest, and anti-pollution banners were one of the themes on display. "Enough of Formula Smoke, the city is not for sale" was the line on the main banner.
Chants of "Colloboni, resignation"
Stopped about fifteen metres from the police cordon, and already close to the major intersection of Carrer Aragó and Passeig de Gràcia, the demonstrators raised their voices to a crescendo against the Formula 1 exhibition each time that the sound of one of the race cars taking part in the exhibition was heard. In the mobilization, as well, all kinds of slogans were chanted, but there one that was repeated a lot, that of "Collboni resignation", which was accompanied by criticism of the police baton-charges that took place recently on the occasion of the neighbourhood protests against the celebration of a fashion catwalk in Park Güell by the firm Louis Vuitton - linked to the celebration of the America's Cup yachting contest - a day when police beat protesters. In fact, the organization also recalled this Wednesday that another demonstration against tourism in Barcelona has been called for July 6th.
In any case, the closure of Carrer Aragó due to the demonstration was thus one more street on top of the closure of a whole section of the Eixample neighbourhood as required for the Formula 1 exhibition to take place, and although the Carrer Aragó closure to traffic had not been initially planned in the exhibition logistics, it also, curiously enough, served to decongest the area, since many pedestrians, oblivious to the demonstration by residents and organizations, took advantage of the ephemeral conversion of Carrer Aragó into a pedestrian zone to be able to walk around the area where Formula 1 cars were continuing to make their noise.
