The downhill section between Alameda and Praça do Chile will be cut off to traffic for a picnic-demonstration, to be held next Sunday, May 29, between 5 pm and 8 pm.
The section of Avenida Almirante Reis between Alameda and Praça do Chile, in the downward direction, will be cut off to traffic next Sunday, May 29, between 5 and 8 pm. The reason? A picnic with a taste of manifestation "for the right to the city". The proposal is to occupy the road and promote a conviviality for three hours on the asphalt. Traffic will be diverted by the PSP on site, which has already authorized this protest action.
With the cycle path as a backdrop, the picnic is being organized "by active members of the cycling and climate justice communities" and intends to "claim regular occupation of public space for people"according to a statement sent to newsrooms. According to the organization, the demonstration is not only about the controversial bike path (works for the new configuration started last week), but also with a possible return to the car of space that had been allocated to local commerce.
"The municipal executive, headed by Carlos Moedas, intends to proceed with the degradation of cycle paths and mobility in the city. The decision is one: more cars in this city. More cars, more emissions, fewer bicycles, fewer people on the streets. It is a repeated decision to choose the past, against the whole of society, obsessed with the privilege projected by the advertising marketing associated with cars. It does not respond to what the city needs, to what transport and mobility need and pushes us into the past. Our vision is a city of proximity, where housing and mobility are designed for people, we want more residents, more trees, more cultural spaces and less real estate speculation, less tar, less cars, noise and CO2."
- organization
The protest is inspired by Pic Nic The Streets, a movement that was born in Brussels shaking up the heart of the city with a series of street demonstrations and picnics.
This movement has incorporated as one of the main priorities of urban quality of life a public space that is not only functional to the flow of cars, but that provides space for young and old, children and vulnerable people, bicycles and public transport. After a series of protests and pickets, the Boulevard Anspach de Bruxelles has become Europe's largest urban center pedestrian area.
I'm still extremely proud to have been one of the instigators and spokespersons of this highly successful grassroots movement, almost 10 years of Picnic the Streets.#citiesforpeople #placemaking #urbantransformation #tactileurbanism #activism #picnicthestreets #brussels pic.twitter.com/XCZD3ghsYx
- bram dewolfs (@kitsumi_on_tour) November 27, 2021
The picnic on Avenida Almirante Reis - or at least the stretch between Alameda and Praça do Chile - is due to start at 5pm. Organizers are calling for the participation of "neighbors from all over the city, bicycle users, environmentalists, advocates of social housing, public transport and who, in general, are interested in building a shared vision of the city, which does not obey the retrograde criteria of real estate speculation and car circulation for the few instead of housing, transport and mobility for everyone", as they state in the same note. People can bring blankets, towels and picnic baskets to feed the debate and the people.
