The 1st Kidical Mass Faro took place this Saturday, May 4th, and had the participation of fifty small and large cyclists, pedestrians and skaters.
A 4.5km route within the capital’s urban perimeter was covered by a group of citizens, mostly on bicycles, but also on foot and roller skates, on a route accompanied by the PSP that guaranteed the safety of participants aged 6 months to 72 years.
Kidical Mass, held in various parts of the country, preceded the presentation to the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities, by the European Climate Pact, on Sunday, May 5th, of the formal proposal for the creation of safe areas for children to return to playing in the road.
According to António Gonçalves Pereira, Portuguese ambassador for the European Climate Pact at the European Commission, it is “imperative that mayors create areas in cities, and in medium-sized and smaller towns, where this can happen” and maintained that “playing in the street is a right , is a condition of children’s citizenship that democratic local power must guarantee”.
Kidical Mass is a global movement in the form of a demonstration open to the participation of the entire population, which takes place in cities around the world, and which demands more and better public space for children. During the organized routes, participants ask for measures to make cities and towns safe and humane, encouraging their use by children and young people, promoting autonomous and healthy individual and collective development.
The event was supported by the Faro a Pedalar collective, the Pinheiro e Rosa School Group (through its projects BikeMe, Desporto Escolar sobre Rodas and Desporto Escolar Comunidades), CÍVIS – Association for the Deepening of Citizenship, the University of Algarve ( SHEs – Sustainable Horizons – European Universities designing the Horizons of Sustainability) and the Faro PSP Command.
