Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain - A judge on the Spanish
Canary Island of Tenerife on Monday lifted a court injunction banning
nightly street celebrations in the capital Santa Cruz during its
world-famous carnival.
The issue had already been settled by a 2006 court ruling, judge
Jaime Guilarte Martin-Calero said, rejecting the injunction based on
an appeal lodged by a group of residents who said the carnival was
too noisy.
Around 100 people had gathered outside the courthouse, requesting
the right to celebrate carnival, the partial cancellation of which
had caused uproar on the island.
Local officials and the Spanish government sided with carnival
organizers against residents who said the festivities prevented them
from sleeping at night.
The residents, who lodged the judicial complaint, came under
enormous pressure and complained that they felt persecuted.
The carnival is 'a celebration more than 200 years old, which has
survived famine, epidemics and the Civil War,' Santa Cruz mayor
Miguel Zerolo said.
Officials calculated that toning down the carnival could cost
Santa Cruz 5 million euros (6.4 million dollars) and cause
'incalculable' damage to tourism.
The Spanish government said the law against noise allowed for
exceptions on cultural grounds.
Around 15 residents had lodged a complaint about musical groups
parading through the streets during carnival, saying the noise
violated their constitutional right to domestic privacy.
They requested that the noise should not surpass 55 decibels in
residential areas after 10 p.m. Normally during carnival, the streets
erupt into an extravaganza of music and dancing that surpasses 115
decibels.
A court rejected the complaint last year, saying it contravened
the interest of hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists, but
the complaint won on appeal.
Judge Guilarte Martin-Calero, however, said that the matter could
be judged only once.
Carnival is celebrated all over Spain, but none is as famous as
that of Tenerife, which is billed as second only to Rio de Janeiro
itself.
As a stopover for ships travelling to and from the Americas down
through the centuries, the Canaries absorbed Creole influences which
mark their dazzling costume parades, Latin dancers and beauty
pageants.
Dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975,
outlawed carnival, fearing its subversive potential. In some places
including Tenerife, however, residents defied the ban, continuing to
stage carnival celebrations under a different name.
This year's Tenerife carnival lasts from February 16 to 25.
Court cases against noise have proliferated in Spain, a country
with one of the world's highest noise levels from late-night bars and
discotheques, airports and the like.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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