Police & Firefighters protest in Fuengirola, Spain (video)

It seems that Tuesday is turning into a day for protest by local police and firefighters in Fuengirola, as for the second week in a row, whistles and noise filled the town centre.

Digital Journal reported on the protest last week by members of UPLBA Andalucía, the union for local police officers and firefighters in Fuengirola.

It sort of reminds this writer of the movie "If its Tuesday, it must be Belgium", but now changed to "If its Tuesday, its time for the cops and firemen to make a noise again." And noise, and lots of smoke, they made indeed.

One can hardly blame them, of course, due to the fact that, as reported last week, they have lost 25% of their salary, while the people running the town have increased theirs by anything up to 68%, as can be seen in this video.

The noise was definitely louder this week, as the protesters included sirens and fire crackers in their repertoire, along with ear-piercing whistles and those colourful paint bombs.

"Don't play with security. No more cuts! Officials are not the problem."

In the video, you will see them gradually creeping closer to the front door of the Town Hall (Ayuntamiento de Fuengirola), and you will see the, er, non-protesting police officers keeping guard there and discussing what they are viewing, safely through the glass. 

At one stage, some more serious-looking police officers did approach the demonstrators, but on zooming in, it seems they wanted to know what kind of fireworks were being used. Some national police officers passed by, and a tiny little grin was possibly caught on camera as they walked on.

The writer's new pal, the police officer who tried to take her camera way back in June 2011, was happily banging on a drum today. The writer likes to think that maybe she inspired him a little in his protesting. 

And rather ironically, after the fireworks were spent, another friendly officer pointed out that they cleaned up after themselves right away. However it is important to note, of course, that when 15m members protest in Fuengirola, they also pick up all their mess, but they don't make quite as much chaos and noise. Okay, we won't mention the noise that we all make in Málaga, as that doesn't count here - those are much bigger protests!

This week they also had some snazzy new t-shirts: 
 

"Citizens and public employees are not responsible for the waste"

And a very impressive sign with the ubiquitous pocketful of money, made famous by the Partido Popular and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy recently:

Rough translation: "Full for Oña (Mayoress) and the scavenger civil servants."

The writer might sound a little facetious, and it may sound like she is making a joke of this protest, but seriously it is impressive that these workers are sticking up for their rights. It just takes a bit of adjustment to get a protester's mind around seeing those who abused in the past, joining the ranks of the "indignados." 

See more photos at: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/343883