300 people in Torrevieja (Alicante) in protest against Russian film festival

MORE than 300 people, mainly Ukrainians living in Torrevieja, demonstrated in the town centre on July 1.

Despite this year’s name-change from Sol Russian Film Festival to Sol International Film Festival, the Torrevieja Ukrainian Association maintained that the organisers of the annual event, together with several of their guests, supported Russia’s invasion of their country. 

The festival is sponsored by Torrevieja town hall, the Diputacion provincial council, the Generalitat, the semi-public water company Agamed and official Russian entities in Spain.

The demonstration, authorised by the central government’s Sub-delegation to Alicante province, set out from Plaza de la Constitucion at 6pm, continuing along Calle Caballero de Rodas and Calle Patricio Perez as far Plaza Miguel Hernandez where several Guardia Civil officers were on duty.

Stopping outside the Teatro Municipal, the film festival’s venue where the red carpet was already rolled out for the inauguration, the demonstrators chanted anti-Putin slogans and called for an end to the invasion before moving on.

Earlier, the festival organisers Ana Semenova Denisova and Denisova Kaunova Tatina, issued a statement rejecting the war.

“In demonstration of our support (for Ukraine) we are installing a table in the theatre during the festival to collect donations for Torrevieja’s Ukrainian associations who have all our support,” they announced.

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