Tenerife allowed to celebrate carnival after all

Feb 12, 2007, 15:55 GMT

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain - A judge on the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife on Monday lifted a court injunction banning nightly street celebrations in the capital Santa Cruz during its world-famous carnival.

The issue had already been settled by a 2006 court ruling, judge Jaime Guilarte Martin-Calero said, rejecting the injunction based on an appeal lodged by a group of residents who said the carnival was too noisy.

Around 100 people had gathered outside the courthouse, requesting the right to celebrate carnival, the partial cancellation of which had caused uproar on the island.

Local officials and the Spanish government sided with carnival organizers against residents who said the festivities prevented them from sleeping at night.

The residents, who lodged the judicial complaint, came under enormous pressure and complained that they felt persecuted.

The carnival is 'a celebration more than 200 years old, which has survived famine, epidemics and the Civil War,' Santa Cruz mayor Miguel Zerolo said.

Officials calculated that toning down the carnival could cost Santa Cruz 5 million euros (6.4 million dollars) and cause 'incalculable' damage to tourism.

The Spanish government said the law against noise allowed for exceptions on cultural grounds.

Around 15 residents had lodged a complaint about musical groups parading through the streets during carnival, saying the noise violated their constitutional right to domestic privacy.

They requested that the noise should not surpass 55 decibels in residential areas after 10 p.m. Normally during carnival, the streets erupt into an extravaganza of music and dancing that surpasses 115 decibels.

A court rejected the complaint last year, saying it contravened the interest of hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists, but the complaint won on appeal.

Judge Guilarte Martin-Calero, however, said that the matter could be judged only once.

Carnival is celebrated all over Spain, but none is as famous as that of Tenerife, which is billed as second only to Rio de Janeiro itself.

As a stopover for ships travelling to and from the Americas down through the centuries, the Canaries absorbed Creole influences which mark their dazzling costume parades, Latin dancers and beauty pageants.

Dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975, outlawed carnival, fearing its subversive potential. In some places including Tenerife, however, residents defied the ban, continuing to stage carnival celebrations under a different name.

This year's Tenerife carnival lasts from February 16 to 25.

Court cases against noise have proliferated in Spain, a country with one of the world's highest noise levels from late-night bars and discotheques, airports and the like.