The Municipal Socialist Group (PSOE) of Torrevieja has presented a motion to urge the support of the entire Municipal Corporation, irrespective of political ideology, for the Torrevieja Carnival following widespread sexist, homophobic and abusive criticism lead by certain factions of society.

The Socialist Municipal Group has presented a motion to the plenary session of the Torrevieja Council urging the defence of the Torrevieja Carnival in the face of the serious attacks suffered on social networks and the media and after the existence of the initiation of a judicial procedure has become known.

This motion highlights the partial and decontextualized use that was made of some images to launch attacks against the members of a troupe, among which there were minors, and the entire family of the Torrevieja Carnival.

The object of the motion is the need for greater protection of Carnival from those who want to silence it. Carnival is a festival that unites, in creativity and artistic expression, people of different ages, origins and social strata and that attracts a large number of tourists. With the idea of obtaining the declaration of National Tourist Interest on the horizon, the Carnival must be improved and to do so it is essential to defend freedom of expression and satire.

If the freedom of expression of the most creative or critical voices is not protected, the Carnival will be impoverished as the ingenuity of the participants will be limited and critical thinking will be prevented from developing. Some far-right leaning political groups have already called for them to have complete control of the imagery.

If, on the contrary, freedom of expression is protected, we will be defending our culture and our way of expressing ourselves and, above all, we will keep at bay those retrograde groups that try to limit content, just as happened in times past in the that censorship and repression were the norm.

The motion presented ends by asking the Municipal Plenary to approve the following agreements:

• Show the support of the entire Municipal Corporation to the groups, participants and organization of the Torrevieja Carnival
• Commitment to defend freedom of expression in Carnival festivities.
• That the Motion and its approval be transferred to the Presidency of the Generalitat Valenciana, to the Department of Tourism, as well as to the President of the Valencian Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FVMP).