MADRID – Gijón woke up this Thursday between the noise of helicopters flying over the surroundings of the stadium The Molinonheavily guarded by agents from most Spanish police divisions, including the Subsoil Unit of the National Headquarters, the Information Brigade or the Police Intervention Unit, as well as agents from Israel’s Mossad.
All of them as part of a strong security device around the qualifying match for the 2018 World Cup that will take place this Friday in the Gijón venue between Spain and Israel.
Illarramendi disputes a ball with Iniesta in the training of Spain. EFE
According to the local press, this is an unprecedented operation in the Asturian city; It is estimated that it will double the usual number for massive high-risk events (between one thousand and two thousand).
To a large extent, the security measures respond to the protocol adopted by the Iberian country for massive events since the terrorist alert level 4 was established in Spain after the attacks in Paris in 2015.
But, in addition, the meeting has been declared high risk by the Minister of the Interior, Juan Ignacio Zoido, after the international BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement, which stems from the Palestinian National Committee and, among other things, proposes to boycott «Israeli products, artists, companies, intellectuals and (sports) teams» due to the conflict in the Gaza Strip, will call for a massive protest on the eve of the meeting with the slogan ‘Red Card to Israel’, to which, According to La Voz de Asturias, up to 15 human rights defense groups have joined.
This protest will begin approximately two hours before the meeting and will go through the streets of Gijón until reaching the Molinón.
Since the beginning of the week, the city of Gijón has been flooded by protest posters and street protests; especially since the Israel national team delegation arrived in Asturias last Wednesday to gather in a hotel a few kilometers away from the stadium.
«We must give sport what sport is, leave politics for those who are dedicated to politics and not try to mix it up because we are all going to lose,» said Daniel Kutner, Israel’s ambassador to Spain and Andorra, in an interview. published by the communication department of your embassy.
The tension that is breathed in Gijón due to the presence of the Israeli team – which has traveled accompanied by its own security device – is due to the controversial position of the City Council, which openly broke ranks with the position of the State to support the movement of boycott.
Hence, since last December, when the Molinón was designated as the venue for the meeting by the Spanish Football Federation, Israeli media and authorities, as well as local political formations, have shown surprise at the choice of venue.
Of all the Spanish cities with First Division teams, and therefore, the necessary infrastructure for the dispute of an international match, Gijón appears as the only one whose City Council officially joined the BDS movement campaign.
In January 2016, the Gijón City Council, headed by Carmen Moriyón from Foro Asturias and with the support of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), Xixón Sí Podemos and Izquierda Unida, announced that it complied with the European Parliament resolution recognizing the State of Palestine. and a two-state solution with the borders drawn in 1967.
In addition, it authorized an initiative in which the city declared itself an «Apartheid-free space» (ELA), and promised to «adopt the appropriate legal measures» to prevent «the contracting of services or the purchase of products from companies complicit in violations of the International Law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights», as well as to «promote cooperation with the DBS movement, articulated at the state level by the Solidarity Network against the Occupation of Palestine».
The approval of said boycott, however, was revoked in the plenary session on March 12, 2017 after the PSOE retracted and Foro Asturias, a political formation to which the mayor is affiliated, abstained in the voting, something that It has only made the atmosphere even more rarefied.
As reported by the Israeli diplomatic corps, Daniel Kutner will attend the meeting at the Molinón, where he will meet with the mayor of Gijón, Carmen Moriyón prior to its start.