The police charges in a protest of firefighters in the region in front of the Ourense Provincial Council left many injured, the worst of which was a firefighter who was transferred to the Ourensano Hospital Complex with trauma to his nose. According to the unions that called the demonstration, there were many injuries. Ángel Moldes, from CIG, indicated that there were “many bruises,” but pointed out that he still did not have a specific number.
Visiting the wounds of the fire: the traces of the great fire that destroyed O Courel a year ago
More than 200 firefighters from the regional parks brought their demands this Monday to the Ourense Provincial Council. They have been on strike since June 15, although the strike consists of not working overtime which is not mandatory. Only then, the closure of a park is announced daily during the summer season. The conflict has its origins in the lack of human resources and the conversion of workers into permanent employment personnel of the administration, according to a decision from the Supreme Court in January 2022. The firefighters of these parks, created to cover in emergencies Outside the main Galician cities, they come from private companies.
Although they intervene to protect homes when a forest fire approaches residential areas, there is no progress throughout the summer, the time of the highest risk of mountain fires. , to find a way out of the problem. The meetings held at the end of the summer season also did not open any ways for a solution, so last week the firefighters of the region started a calendar of protests in front of the four provincial councils of Galicia. They started in Pontevedra and moved this Monday to Ourense, where the police case happened. Moldes said that he did not understand why the police intervened in the riot: “We told them that we will not enter the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, I don’t know why they sued.”
He and the other members of the strike committee were received by the president of the provincial entity, Luis Menor (PP), but he considered that there were again “good words, but none of the actions.” Last Friday, firefighters from regional parks called for a protest in A Coruña. “We will see if they call us before to negotiate,” said Moldes, who determined that, if not, they will continue the calendar of demonstrations and go on Monday next week to protest in front of the Lugo Provincial Council and on November 17 they will perform in Santiago de Compostela.
In Ourense, firefighters gathered in front of the Provincial Pazo, where they threw the paint. They also burnt tires and protested with flares, smoke canisters and firecrackers. They demand an autonomous collective agreement with equal conditions in all provinces and regional parks and more resources, material and people.
