Hundreds gather in Parcent against Llíber urban development plan

A packed square against speculation

Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday in Parcent's Plaza de Colón for a rally organised by the Salvem la Vall Platform. The event, held as part of Fesvall 2026, centred on rejecting the PAI Medina de Llíber, an urban development project that, according to the platform, would transform more than 406,000 square metres of Muntanya Llarga with the construction of around 500 villas with swimming pools.

The organisation warned that the initiative would worsen the water deficit that, it claims, already affects the area, and cautioned that a development geared towards residential tourism would push up house prices and trigger social displacement in several municipalities across the comarca. The platform also denounced a lack of urban planning in different towns in Marina Alta and what it described as institutional abandonment of the agricultural sector.

Twenty years after the umbrellas

During the rally, participants recalled that in March 2006 a demonstration held in Parcent, popularly known for the umbrellas carried by those attending, managed to halt three major urban development projects threatening the Vall de Pop. The organising platform invoked that precedent as evidence that community mobilisation can stop speculative interests over the territory.

"Parcent is an example of how the strength of residents and collective action can defend the territory against speculative interests," said the Salvem la Vall Platform, closing its statement with a rallying cry: "No to the PAI. Victory is being a people. Victory is living here".

Support from other groups

Joining Salvem la Vall for the event were the collectives Pego Viu, Salvem Planes, Protegim el Comtat, AEA La Marina Baixa, the Cultural Halls of Benissa and Stop Ecocidi. The programme combined the rally with a manifesto reading, a community dinner and concerts.