Hundreds of residents of La Almozara have gathered this Monday at the doors of the Municipal Board of the District to show their rejection of the alleged sexual assaults that are being investigated in recent weeks in the neighborhood itself and in the surroundings of the Parque del Agua. Thus, the district of La Almozara wanted to express its «strongest condemnation» and its «most resounding rejection» of these acts of sexual violence, which «break the social peace of our community and directly attack the freedom and integrity of women».
The president of the Municipal Board of La Almozara and councilor of the PSOE, Guillermo Ortiz, has expressed during the rally, on behalf of the entire municipal board, his «unconditional support» to the victims, expressing «our absolute solidarity», affection and total support to the affected women and their families. They have also demanded «maximum inter-institutional collaboration», urging «urgently» all the public administrations involved to «coordinate efforts effectively and permanently to reinforce security in the neighbourhood».
THEY ASK THAT THE PROTECTION OF NEIGHBORS BE GUARANTEED
The neighbors have asked for a meeting with the subdelegate of the government to be informed of the steps that are going to be taken to clarify these facts, as well as the actions that are going to be taken to make the streets of Zaragoza a safer place. For Encarna Mihi, a resident of the neighborhood, «this is not only an issue of La Almozara, it is violence against women.»
That is why he asks that «the protection that we citizens demand» be guaranteed, and that they do so among all the competent administrations, and that they do so as soon as possible. «Let’s hope that we don’t have to have a murder for a minute of silence to be held in the Plaza del Pilar or in the courts or in the government delegation,» he lamented.
Although some residents have attributed these acts to an increase in insecurity and crime in the streets of the neighborhood, others have assured that they do not feel that «tension and violence in the environment» has grown. This is how Manuel Alonso, a resident of the neighborhood, tells it, who assures that «a situation of alarm without having verified information» should not be generated, letting the Police work to clarify the facts
THE COMPLAINTS, UNDER INVESTIGATION
The complaints are being investigated by the Family and Women’s Care Unit (UFAM), who have so far not been able to determine if the facts denounced are related to each other or if they have been perpetrated by the same person. The Municipal Board wanted to show its support for the actions of the National Police, publicly supporting its «rigorous work» to «clarify the facts, protect the victims and arrest those responsible».
Initially, the information that has circulated on social networks speaks of at least three aggressions. The victims, allegedly, would have drowned before the sexual assault, and one of them would have been able to escape. The National Police has not confirmed that there are three victims, that the attacks have occurred in the places and circumstances reported in the message or that there is a single suspect.
The neighbors wanted to make it clear that La Almozara «is and will continue to be a supportive, safe neighborhood committed to equality.» So that this does not change, they have stressed that they will not let «fear settle in our neighbourhoods nor will we tolerate any type of sexist violence».
