There is a great deal of opposition to the planned demolition of the Sa Feixina monument. | Pere Bota

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Tomorrow morning (Thursday) at 11.30 members of 22 Palma residents associations are going to stage a mass demonstration outside the town hall in protest over plans to demolish the monument in Sa Feixina park.

During the council meeting, representatives for the Save the Sa Feixina Monument will challenge the mayor and other left-wing councillors in an attempt to have the decision overturned. The status of the monument as an example of heritage requiring protection is currently being reconsidered by the Council of Majorca.

The monument was erected seventy years ago in memory of sailors who died on the warship Baleares. It was paid for residents of the Santa Catalina neighbourhood who wanted to pay their respects to those who died.

However, as part of a drive to remove all monuments, statues and street names related to the memory of General Franco, Sa Feixina has been placed on the list, unless the movement to save it can convince the town hall administration to change its mind.

The Partido Popular’s spokesperson, Marga Durán, has suggested that the three parties which run the town hall - PSOE, Més and and Som Palma (Podemos) - should pay for the demolition of the Sa Feixina monument and not expect the public to pay. Durán noted that the 170,000 euros cost for the demolition could be met almost in totality from the 50,000 euros annual contributions to political parties from the town hall.

She said that the demolition was being done on "a whim". There is, she has argued, only a political motive for it. A further suggestion has been made that the demolition should be subject to a referendum, just as the terraces on the Born were.