Survivors of a mass canola oil poisoning forty years ago have occupied a museum in Madrid and threatened suicide if the Spanish government did not respond to their demands.
The group of around six people began protesting inside the El Prado museum at roughly 10am Tuesday, with others protesting outside.
The protest group, titled ‘We Are Still Alive’ – ‘Seguimos Viviendo’ in Spanish – said in a statement on Twitter they were protesting against the “humiliation” and “abandonment” from the Spanish government following the mass oil poisoning in 1981.
“Six hours after the start of our presence here, we will start ingesting the pills,” the group warned.
The group were removed from the museum by police.
Their demands included a meeting with Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, and money to cover the medical expenses of remaining survivors.
In what is thought to be one of the world’s worst food poisoning epidemic, hundreds of people died and many more were left with chronic illnesses after batches of canola cooking oil sold in Madrid and nearby in 1981 were found to be altered with harmful chemicals.
In 1989 – after one of the longest trials in Spanish history – over half of the defendants in the investigation into the poisoning were fully acquitted, causing uproar.
In an interview with El HuffPost, a protestor outside said: “For forty years, we have passed through various political parties but we are in the same place. The most urgent this is that, at least, they [listen] to us.”
