The mayor of Santa Susanna justifies the neo-Nazi festival: "In three years there have been no problems"

BarcelonaThe mayor of Santa Susanna, Joan Campolier, has once again justified the celebration of the neo-Nazi festival Chaos in the Sun, which starts this Friday and runs until tomorrow, on a private estate. In an interview with El matí de Catalunya Ràdio, the councilor mayor has defended that in the previous three editions there have been no incidents. "It has been held for three years and there have been no problems, it has gone unnoticed and the organizers have respected the schedule," he said. Marc Buch, the mayor of Calella, where most attendees sleep, did reveal in conversation with ARA that "two years ago there was a fight between them and last night there was another one at the party they are holding in a local nightclub."

As he has done from the beginning, Campolier has reiterated that they do not have "any legal tool to suspend a private party, only if public order or coexistence is disturbed," and has admitted that with the current ordinances they can do nothing. Despite the opposition's demands to change the regulations, the mayor has gone so far as to say that they have not had time to do so, even though this year marks the fourth edition of the festival. "To change the ordinances we need time, it cannot be done from one day to the next," he snapped.

The mayor also said he was unaware that the groups performing there, from North America and Europe, make supremacist statements and promote hate speech, even though their lyrics are more explicit. "I don't know what happens in there, they don't tell me it's a Nazi party, but a private party," he retorted before confining the controversy to this year, even though since the first edition anti-fascist parties and organizations have demanded that it be banned.

"The only thing I can do is bring it to the attention of the Mossos and the Generalitat," he added in an attempt to shed responsibility. Explanations that have not convinced the CUP, which has filed a complaint with the Mossos d'Esquadra due to the inaction of the Santa Susanna City Council and the Generalitat in allowing these fascist concerts to be held.

Complaint to the Mossos

In this sense, the CUP members urge to prevent the event after the council itself has acknowledged that the venue does not have a license of activity or permits to host a public concert. The party has also informed the Prosecutor's Office for possible glorification of fascism and Francoism. Nevertheless, they criticize that the administrations "have washed their hands" and have allowed the concert to go ahead, without demanding mandatory documentation such as insurance, emergency plans or capacity controls.

Thus, the CUP has accused the Maresme council and the departments of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition and Interior of "not having acted despite knowing that the event does not have the necessary permits". The deputy Dani Cornellà has expressed the "indignation" of the CUP and part of the residents of Santa Susanna in the face of what he considers "intolerable permissiveness with hate speech and fascist exaltation", and recalled that on May 15, a hundred people already demonstrated in Santa Susanna against the neo-Nazi festival, convened by the Anti-fascist Platform of Alt Maresme.