The Partido Popular raised issues regarding the Easter procession at Thursday's council meeting. The ruling administration agreed with keeping the doors open but not with the proposal for flags to fly at half-mast. The PP had wanted the flags to be lowered from Holy Thursday until Easter Sunday "as a mark of respect and in keeping with secular tradition observed by this town hall".
The culture councillor, Llorenç Carrió, said that out of respect for all beliefs, "we consider that in a secular state there should not be flags at half-mast". A PP councillor, Antónia Roca, accused the administration of not respecting tradition, to which Carrió responded that "there are many ways of showing respect", such as by providing logistical support to the procession. Roca argued that the left was making religion a political issue and that the Catholic religion appeared to bring it out in more of a rash than any other religions.
The doors of the town hall were certainly open in 2016, but there was discrepancy at the meeting as to whether they were last year. Carrió said they were open, but Josep Lluís Bauzá of Ciudadanos disagreed, saying that he had to ask two police officers to let him in so that he could lay a floral tribute. Bauzá insisted that he wasn't interested in a right versus left argument, noting that last year he hadn't seen anyone from the PP at the town hall, while only some thirty metres away the president of the Council of Majorca, Miquel Ensenyat of Més, was receiving the image of Christ.
Mayor Antoni Noguera acknowledged that the Holy Thursday procession means much to a large number of people in Palma. For this reason, he said that he will "possibly go" and be part of the procession but not make a floral offering to Christ. Only PSOE's Angelica Pastor from the administration said that she would definitely take full part.
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What an interesting society we live in. The LGBT Community have no problem convincing the powers to be to have all the EMT buses emblazoned with their flag yet the catholic community cannot get any respect for their flag.