The mayor, Txomin Sagarzazu (PNV), announced this Monday in a presentation of the Hondarribia festival program that aims to change the schedules of the parades of the alarde so that they do not coincide with each other. “It is not possible that there are no coincidences in the place; no coincidences in time would help,” he said. The change would lead to the Jaizkibel company coming out later and, therefore, in the core and at the central time of the festivities the exclusionary parade.

The detractors of the egalitarian alarming have been calling for a change in time for years and the City Council’s intention has joined the call for change.

The egalitarian company Jaizkibel has denounced that they have not been informed of these intentions and that they have been aware of the municipal approach through the media. The members of Jaizkibel have stated on several occasions that the City Hall has not authorised them to parade, and this year they have also had to go to the Department of Security of the Basque Government. The news has gathered his own words: “On 2 January we asked the City Hall for permission to parade on 8 September; the answer has not come until August.” According to the Security Department to Jaizkibel, the equal parade has the same schedule as last year.

It has been more than twenty years since the request of women to participate in the alarde was put on the table, but the male-dominated parade has not recognized it until today. Moreover, the egalitarian alarming has to travel between gestures that have a lot of reproach and aggressiveness. Even though there are more and more positions in favour, a harsh and hostile atmosphere had to be endured last year.

The attempt to interview, suspended

Looking ahead to 8 September, and with the aim of avoiding "an atmosphere of tension" like last year, the Alarde Foundation and the company Jaizkibel sat down on 5 August at a table. The anthropologist Jenny Pearce was in charge of preparing the meeting.

However, the attempt to unite the two sides of the conflict for the first time was frustrated. The mediator explained that the issue needed more time because there were difficulties in reaching an agreement "in the dialogue on possible dialogue" that is taking place.