DEFENDERS OF GIBRALTAR © 2014: The Brussels Protest Trip by Concerned Citizens 27/01/14-30/01/14

The Brussels Protest Trip by Concerned Citizens 27/01/14-30/01/14
It has been an honour and a privilege that 9 of us joined in this trip as individual concerned citizens with the rest of the 41 other people. All 9 of us went in our individual capacity not representing any group, organisation or political affiliation!
It was very cold, very tiring but a wonderful challenging experience. I would say the most challenging part of the whole trip was trying to convey the correct strong message - that is the problem of the border queues and how it affects us all in different ways. But highlighting the HUMANITARIAN part of it all. We worked hard to avoid involvement at a political level which is something for the politicians to solve. But we wanted everyone to see and hear from us how the queues caused on purpose was inhumane and that as human beings this was unacceptable behaviour by the Spanish Government.
It was extremely enlightening experience to say the very least. It was very surprising to find that Brussels being the very core and heart of the European Union were actually lacking knowledge and awareness about OUR Gibraltar and the situation of the border with Spain. However, on speaking to multitude of European nationals, we found them to be very open and intrigued in hearing our message.
The one aspect that struck the people the most was the "HUMANITARIAN" message we conveyed on behalf of many people - not only those ten thousand that signed the petition.
Where language was a hindrance in our communication with some people who did not speak English, Spanish or French, the photos in the leaflets (that we were handing out) actually helped us tell the true story without words! With the help of the leaflets we were able to give the full thrust of the problems faced at the border with Spain daily!
We all knew that the trip to Brussels was not a holiday but was going to be a tough two days of hard work! With that in mind most of us worked very hard indeed to get the message across.
On the day after we arrived - we had the start of one of the three protests that were organised for us. First we had the protest outside the EU Parliament from 9.00am to 1.00pm and although the leaflets and the banners arrived quite late, at about mid-day, our passion and determination did not falter! We still as loudly as we could made our message heard with chants and songs and talking to those around. We were joined by most of the MEPs at the start before they went into parliament to see and listen to the presentation prepared by Caine Sanchez our Spokesperson. It was wonderful to meet up again with many of the familiar MEPs that had joined and supported our own protest in November in London. We thanked them for coming and supporting us again and for making time to meet the whole group of concerned citizens which was the group that organised this protest this time in Brussels.
While we were doing the protest and speaking to people and the media, 6 of the group went into parliament to give the presentation with our own media and some MEPs.
Once our long awaited leaflets arrived we truly overtook the streets around the EU Parliament. We were out with so much energy and pride that we did not miss anyone passing without trying to talk about the border situation! The distribution of the photo evidence and information was very well received and many people stopped to question and learn more! It was confusing at times as we were alternating between 3 languages all the time and the languages we did not know the photos spoke for itself.
We all welcomed the questions and enjoyed the opportunity to tell our side of the story! It was even more encouraging to hear later how successful the presentation was and how much those presents were unaware of the problem and how it affected everyone crossing the border. Although the presentation also gave the chance to raise other issues that we face with Spanish government like the incursions etc. So all in all the message was well received inside and outside of the EU Parliament. The petition was also handed in to be considered by the petition commission.
After Lunch we all met up again to make our way to the Spanish Embassy for our second protest of the day. Once again it was great to be able to share our emotional but powerful message of the inhumane treatment at the border with Spain that Spanish Government were using as a weapon for political gain! It was another great opportunity also to continue to distribute the leaflets to passers by. While the protest was on some of us handed out the leaflets again to many European Nationals and others. The most encouraging part was when one of the group was given the opportunity to hand in the leaflet and letter to the Spanish Embassy. The other encouraging part was to see MEP Graham Watson stand again with us for part of the protest for a second time! For this we thank him immensely. We finished the protest 30 minutes earlier than planned, due to many of us being far too cold, tired in fact exhausted. So we all made our way back to the hotel to rest before supper.
The next day, we were refreshed and renewed with more passion and enthusiasm to deliver our message in what was going to be the third and final protest. This time the venue was outside the EU Commission and although the day was much colder we braved the weather and once again enjoyed the opportunity to protest and distribute the leaflets to more passers by. While some of us protested with chants and songs and a little dance and fun, some of us were busy speaking to people while handing out the leaflets. This second day actually attracted more journalist from Brussels and as such there was plenty of opportunities for many to be interviewed by all the different journalist and TV station that came to cover the story of our protest. There was only one incident during this protest in which a Spanish national - a middle aged man came up to us while we were all protesting to shout out Viva Espana! But thanks to the professionalism fo the Brussels police who dealt with the individual swiftly and efficiently with no other consequence.
So all in all a tremendous success! Many thanks to Caine Sanchez for organising the trip and many thanks to all of us who together achieved in getting our voices heard for OUR GIBRALTAR!
The difficulty now is to keep up the pressure. There has been a lot of hard work done by all who attended the trip and also many others who worked in the background to support this event.
One lesson for us all to learn and that stood out the most was the actual lack of knowledge about us as a people and a country. We all need to strive together to continue getting our message of who we are and what Gibraltar is all about. SO we need to increase our PR side of our story. This is something we all can take an active part on - we can all use social media - photos, videos etc to get our message across. We need to ensure that people everywhere know about us as a people, our culture, our history and our community as whole - let us all show what Gibraltar is all about and what we can offer people so they visit us.
On a different note what became apparent to us all was the lack of action by our UK Governments and the Foreign Office and how they really need to do more to stand up to the bullying tactics by Spain! So all of us no matter what group or organisations or political parties need to keep up the pressure and as and when possible stand together in UNITY!
Let us all remember the strong message we need to portray and that is that we are NOT against Spanish people but rather we are against how the Spanish Government continue to bully us in so many ways! It is them that are stopping or hindering our right to Free Movement! But remember that we also need to raise awareness of all the other ways and tactics that the Spanish Government use to deliver a negative picture about us as a people and our country!
So we have a choice to get our voices heard - so let us all continue!
Photos courtesy of Tommy Finlayson and Trevor Bickerstaff

Outside EU Parliament