Avenida San Jacinto, in the capital city of Seville, has always provided ample shade for pedestrians who passed near the church that bears the same name as the avenue. A centennial ficus was responsible for offer shelter from the Seville heat on this corner.
However, The felling of this tree has begun claiming to be a “great risk” to the structure of the parish. Three youths unsuccessfully climbed the ficus on Wednesday morning to prevent further felling.
Such was the uproar that even national leaders began to join the fray. Pagespeaker from the United We Can parliamentary group, Paul Echenikhas qualified “scoundrel” and “bad people” to the Church and the Municipal Council of the Andalusian capital for its cutting.
You have to be shameless and bad people to do what the Church and the City Council of Seville are doing to the centenary ficus of San Jacinto. pic.twitter.com/zhCemYFHas
— Pablo Echenique (@PabloEchenique) August 17, 2022
Besides, there are many demonstrations and gatherings of environmentalists and neighbors to try to prevent the tree from being cut down. In fact, a Seville court is considering an appeal to suspend the license to cut down ficus trees.
Specifically, the Disputes and Administrative Court has announced the month of August for consideration of the petitionrequested this Wednesday by the Multisectoral Association of Andalusian Horticulture (AMJA), according to Europa Press.
The felling of the century-old ficus of Triana in Seville.
The three young men who climbed the tree around 7:00 a.m. were brought down by firefighters around 1:00 p.m. Activists responded to the request of the firefighters without showing “any resistance”, PACMA explained to the EP.
Dozens of neighbors, onlookers and activists have sheltered the youngsters, who have been on top of the Christmas tree since the first hour. Demonstrators defaced Seville’s church and city council they don’t want to “take on the financial responsibility of maintaining this monumental tree”.
For its part, the Church has assured in a letter that “no one but the members of this community will feel the disappearance” of the hundred-year-old ficus tree located in the church complex.
“By all accounts, (registration) has become a cancer that grows excessively in the most inappropriate place, although some continue to think that it is like a bonsai that we can handle as we wish with the necessary care,” the parish added.