MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Gibraltar National Day

Today, September 10th Gibraltarians again took to the streets dressed in red and white to celebrate National Day.

The celebration was first started 13 years ago to mark the anniversary of the constitution and has developed into a popular event.

The political rally at Casemates Square is addressed from a stage backed by a large Gibraltar flag and the slogan 'self Determination is democracy' was attended by representatives of the main political parties of the UK and was started off by William Serfaty from the SDGG, self determination for Gibraltar Group. He spoke of the successes of the group, including getting participation for Gibraltar in EU elections after a legal struggle where other members have this as a right from day one.

He was followed by speakers from the Liberal, Conservative and Labour parties who talked supportively and briefly blamed the each others parties for the failures of the past.

Peter Caruana, the Chief Minister, gave the last address which was generally well received, although some elements of the crowd were hostile due to anxiety about the extent of a proposed airport agreement with Spain which is seen as the thin end of the wedge.

However, he reassured people about his position and declared joint sovereignty dead and went on to receive loud cheers from the crowd. At the end he looked very happy, and the rival UK MP's were seen dancing with each other on stage.

The political rally closed with the now traditional release of 30,000 red and white balloons, representing the people of Gibraltar. These quickly drifted over to Spain, ignoring the air restrictions, still in place, introduced by General Franco in the nineteen sixties when he closed the frontier.

Later in the afternoon there were some events for the younger Gibraltarians with a firework display and a rock concert in the evening.

Source: gibnews.net