longdep_qa.jsonl

{"input": " Early life. Picardo was born in Jerez de la Frontera, in the Province of C\u00e1diz in Andaluc\u00eda, Spain on 18 June 1919. His father was Alvaro Picardo de Celis and his mother's family name was Castell\u00f3n. He had four brothers, one of whom died in infancy. His father died in 1929 when Picardo was ten years old. With his mother and his brothers he moved to Madrid, Spain. He enrolled at the newly created Instituto de Bachillerato Cervantes for his high school education. On completing school he initially wanted to join the navy, but was frustrated by the closure of the military academies in Madrid during the Second Spanish Republic. He turned to the study of law, but was frustrated again, this time by the start of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936 when he was in the middle of his course. He had just celebrated his seventeenth birthday. Training in architecture. To avoid being evacuated from Madrid when the Spanish Civil War began, Picardo joined the studio of the architect Luis Moya Blanco, a professor 15 years his senior at the Escuela T\u00e9cnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid). Impressed by Picardo's abilities, Moya Blanco encouraged Picardo to abandon law and take up a career in architecture.. The Civil War and the dictatorial regime that followed it resulted in fewer architects in Spain. Some of those who had prospered during the Republic did not survive the war. Others had gone into exile or had been professionally disqualified. Under decree by the dictator Francisco Franco the Direcci\u00f3n General de Aquitectura (General Directorate of Architecture) was set up to control architecture in Spain and collaborate in what his regime called la reconstrucci\u00f3n nacional (national reconstruction). Many architects were required to be subordinate to it. Against this background, in 1945 Picardo entered the Escuela T\u00e9cnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid.From the beginning of Picardo's studies, his abilities in painting and drawing \u2014 in particular his mastery of perspective \u2014 drew him to the attention of a number of architects who praised him highly. While he was still a student, architects commissioned murals from him for the interiors of their buildings, and employed him within their practices for the graphic representations and perspectives of their plans. Picardo executed his first professional mural painting at the age of 20 in 1939 in the Cine F\u00edgaro (Figaro Cinema) in Madrid, commissioned by his architecture mentor Luis Moya Blanco. The painting of murals was the main source of income for Picardo during his youth and early career.As a student Picardo also began to illustrate many articles and later several covers for the Spanish architectural magazines Revista Nacional de Arquitectura and the Bolet\u00edn de la Direcci\u00f3n General de Arquitectura. His drawings in these publications have been described as showing \"increasing sophistication\" and being of \"complexity and extraordinary quality\". Particularly noted in his post-student days were illustrations portraying Madrid in the 1950s and 1960s, the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, and sketches of the Canarias (Canary Islands) in 1953. He also showed a growing interest in historic architecture, in particular its preservation and restoration. Picardo completed his training by making increasingly numerous travels to study buildings around Spain and abroad. His investigative journeys around the Iberian Peninsula awakened in him an intense interest in its historical and vernacular architecture. He was described as an \"outstanding\" student. Early career. Architect. On qualifying in 1951, Picardo pursued his interest in historical architecture by collaborating on a number of building preservation and restoration projects with the Spanish architect and architectural historian Fernando Chueca Goitia, who was 8 years his senior. Chueca's appeal to Picardo was the older man's lengthy research into what he saw as the unchanging elements of Spanish architecture that maintained their constancy despite political and religious changes. Picardo was one of the 24 signatories of the ''Manifiesto de la Alhambra'' of 1952, described as one of \u201cthe most remarkable texts in the histiography of 20th-century Spanish architecture\", of which Chueca was the main instigator. The manifesto collected the reflections of a group of architects (Picardo among them) and \"sought inspiration in the design\" of the Alhambra in Granada, Andaluc\u00eda for \"a distinctively Spanish form of modern architecture\". This inspiration was to guide much of Picardo's work throughout his career. Its influence, particularly in his work on Paradores, can be clearly seen.. During the 1950s Picardo pursued his personal architectural ambitions, entering competitions and publishing plans and drawings of uncommissioned buildings. In 1951 in  company with his fellow architect Carlos de Miguel he designed a centre for the Cofrad\u00eda de Pescadores (Fishermen's Brotherhood) of Altea in the province of Alicante which attracted much attention but remained unbuilt.Picardo, working alone, designed a small hotel which could be built on the Costa del Sol in Andaluc\u00eda. He described it as \"un modesto parador (a modest inn), resolved in a simple and attractive way\".In competition, Picardo entered plans and drawings of a preliminary draft for the Delegaci\u00f3n de Hacienda de Gerona (Treasury Delegation in Gerona) but came second behind the Spanish architect Carlos Sobrini who had been a year behind Picardo at college. He also came second in a similar competition a year later with a design for the Delegaci\u00f3n de Hacienda en Las Palmas (Treasury Delegation in Las Palmas), once again losing to Carlos Sobrini.In 1958 Picardo co-designed with his brother Carlos Picardo a six-storey edificio de viviendas (apartment building) near Madrid's Plaza de Las Ventas, designed for middle-class families.In the early 1960s Picardo built some houses in the vernacular and historical Andaluc\u00edan style on the Costa del Sol and in Jerez and, in contrast, a number of modernist apartment blocks for the construction company Urbis in Madrid. He also moved on to a series of building commissions for the Spanish Ministerio de Informaci\u00f3n y Turismo (Ministry of Information and Tourism) which laid the foundation for his notable work in the 1960s and 1970s on a large number of the state-owned luxury hotel network Paradores de Turismo de Espa\u00f1a.. Even early in his architectural career, Picardo was viewed as a supreme draughtsman, producing quick sketches, perspectives, views, details and innumerable plans of his projects in which his skills can be easily identified. Artist. As well as his work on modern buildings and on preservation and restoration projects through the 1950s, Picardo continued to receive commissions for decorative mural paintings, where he \"demonstrated his mastery in the use of colour and techniques such as watercolour and oil\". His works were seen in locations such as the new Hotel de Los Cisnes in Jerez, while in Madrid he embellished the Bar Jerez, the Hotel Plaza, the Residencia de Ingenieros del Instituto Nacional de Colonizaci\u00f3n (Engineers' residence of the National Institute of Colonization), the Exposici\u00f3n de Regiones Devastadas (Exposition of Devastated Regions), the Instituto de \u00d3ptica \"Daza de Vald\u00e9s\" (Institute of Optics), the sales area of the Garaje Villamagna (Villamagna Garage) and in 1953 he completed extensive paintings at the Restaurante Commodore in Madrid where amongst other images he produced two large curved panoramic views, one of Madrid and one of C\u00e1diz. Picardo was regarded as an \"outstanding\" muralist.At the same time his drawings of buildings and architectural details were published as illustrations in a best-selling textbook on monumental and historic Spanish architecture, Arquitectura Popular Espa\u00f1ola, by the restoration and conservation architect Leopoldo Torres Balb\u00e1s. Picardo travelled around Spain with him, making a multitude of detailed drawings of vernacular architectural elements for Balb\u00e1s' books.. Picardo's published architectural drawings were highly regarded. They were described as \"magnificent\" by the leading Spanish restoration architect Luis Men\u00e9ndez-Pidal y \u00c1lvarez.In 1959 Picardo was given an unusual commission: to design a pack of baraja de naipes (playing cards) for exclusive use as advertising material by the Spanish fashion brand Loewe. With much imagination he personalised the characters he portrayed, for instance rendering the King of Hearts as the Emperor Charlemagne, the King of Clubs as Goliath, the King of Diamonds as Julius Caesar and the King of Clubs as Alexander the Great. They were produced in colour by the Spanish firm Naipes Heraclio Fournier and surviving packs are much in demand by collectors. Another games design produced by Picardo at much the same time was a set of wooden chess pieces formed in tall, slender, conical shapes and, with the exception of the pawns, surmounted by intricate and delicate indications of the pieces' types. It is dated to 1960.Around 1960 Picardo was rewarded by the Direcci\u00f3n General de Arquitectura (DGA) for the many illustrations he had provided for the DGA's Bolet\u00edn since he was a student with the publication of a small book, Dibujos de Jos\u00e9 Luis Picardo (Drawings of Jos\u00e9 Luis Picardo). More than 60 drawings appear in the book, both illustrations and humorous cartoons, and the foreword compares Picardo's work to illustrators such as the Romanian-American Saul Steinberg and in Britain Osbert Lancaster and Hugh Casson. The book is long out of print and virtually unknown in Spain, and not at all elsewhere, but is available second-hand. Paradores de Turismo. From the early 1960s to 1985 Picardo dedicated much of his professional life to the state-run hotel chain, Paradores de Turismo de Espa\u00f1a. He had for some time carried out minor work for the Ministerio de Informaci\u00f3n y Turismo which controlled the hotel network. For the purposes of tourism the Ministry and its forebears had for over 30 years rehabilitated rundown and sometimes ruined historic buildings such as castles and convents and converted them into luxury hotels in a style that went beyond ordinary hotel use. In the early 1960s, as Spanish tourism increased, the Ministry decided to rapidly expand its Parador operation (which would within a decade grow from 40 to 83 establishments) and Picardo, with his previous experience of historical restoration and his abiding interest in historical and vernacular buildings, was seen by the Ministry be a suitable architect to take on much of this type of work.. Picardo began working for Paradores on a series of restorations of old, monumental buildings and sometimes building new establishments adjacent to ruined monuments in a style that faithfully copied their original designs. His hybrid conversions maintained and often embellished the monuments' ancient appearance while at the same time finding inspiration in them for the style of luxurious modern hotel arrangements the authorities required.. A wealth of Picardo's drawings for his Paradores projects survive. There are large collections of extensively detailed plans which cover his designs from whole Paradores to the smallest detail of door furniture. There are axonometric before-and-after drawings of the buildings and the landscapes around them. There are bird's eye views exercising his mastery of perspective and his spatial vision. They all show meticulous skill.For nearly twenty years, from the early 1960s to his last work for the Paradores in the 1980s, Picardo carried out eleven major reconstructions of historical buildings and/or erected sympathetic and imitative new constructions abutting them or rising from their ruined foundations. With a number he returned to build additions to his earlier work. He also worked on a number of other Parador projects which for various reasons did not reach fruition. His eleven Parador masterworks encouraged other Spanish architects to work in the same vein, and Portuguese architects, too, in the similar state-run chain of hotels in Portugal, the Pousadas de Portugal. Picardo's work for Paradores de Turismo is highly regarded by other professionals, and also by hotel guests who revel in the historical imagery and romance of his work. Parador de Guadalupe: Zurbar\u00e1n. For his first of many Parador projects Picardo was appointed by the Ministry of Information and Tourism in July 1963 to convert into a Parador two ancient neighbouring buildings in the village of Guadalupe in the province of C\u00e1ceres in Extremadura. One building was the Hospital de San Juan Bautista, also known as the Hospital de Hombres, which was built in the mid-14th-century, rebuilt in 1402 and refurbished in the 16th century. The other building was the Colegio de Infantes, also known as the Colegio de Gram\u00e1tica, built in the early 16th-century for the education of  boys. They were situated close to the Monastery of Santa Mar\u00eda de Guadalupe, one of the most important monasteries of medieval Spain, in the centre of the village. The college was included in the Cat\u00e1logo de Monumentos Nacionales (Catalogue of National Monuments) when Guadalupe was declared a conjunto monument urban de inter\u00e9s nacional hist\u00f3rico-artistico (monumental urban complex of national historic-artistic interest).Picardo found the two buildings to be in a ruinous state, housing humble dwellings and poor workshops. While constructing a hotel out of the buildings, his task was to save what remained of their basic structures, including an \"outstanding\" staircase, and to return them to their original Mud\u00e9jar style. He partly demolished the old structures of both buildings, rebuilding them as they had originally looked, using ancient Mud\u00e9jar  construction techniques based on lime, clay and wood.Picardo set the main hospitality section of the Parador within the Colegio de Infantes, adding to the external south side of the cloister to provide a dining room and, above it, terraces for guest rooms facing the garden. The cloister remained intact, with Picardo leaving the lower arches open, but closing the upper ones with glass and wooden latticework. The exposed wooden framework and coffered ceilings were respected and clay tile flooring was laid on the upper floor.. The Hospital de San Juan Bautista was remodelled for the hotel's kitchens, service areas, laundry, staff residences, and car parking. Picardo also designed a large first floor breakfast room on the street side of the hospital building. Ventilation for all the services and rooms throughout the Parador was provided by chimneys which were covered with Arabic tiles and whitewashed uprights perforated with starry latticework and topped with glazed ceramic tiles in white, blue and green.Most of the furniture and internal decoration was designed by Picardo and he made much use of decorative wall tiles produced by the ceramicist Juan Manuel Arroyo Ruiz de Luna, including some explaining the history of the buildings, signed by Picardo. He was to employ Arroyo repeatedly in his Parador projects over the following twenty years and as a result the ceramicist's work became an identifying feature of Picardo's work.Restoration at Guadalupe started in November 1963 and the hotel, with twenty double rooms, opened on 11 December 1965.In 1981 Picardo was invited back to Guadalupe to add a new wing of guest rooms. He built them in understated but similar style to the rest of the Parador, providing views of the rooftops and towers of the monastery and of the surrounding mountains. The new wing increased the number of guest rooms to 41. As a result of being an afterthought to the original design, access to the new wing was complicated and required an abundance of staircases and lifts. Parador de Ja\u00e9n: Castillo de Santa Catalina. At the same time as preparing his restoration at Guadalupe, Picardo was commissioned by the Ministry to design and build a Parador at the Castillo de Santa Catalina (Castle of Santa Catalina) in Ja\u00e9n in Andaluc\u00eda. The castle stands on the site of a Moorish fortress and was built in the mid-13th century. It was damaged both in the frontier wars between Moors and Christians and in the Castilian Civil Wars. During the Peninsular War it housed Napoleonic troops. By the time Picardo came to the castle it had been completely abandoned. The site is on the top of a steep hill 800 metres above the city, with views in all directions.. Picardo began work on the Parador in early 1963 and his draft plans were ready by the late summer of that year. The building was planned as a simple hoster\u00eda with the emphasis on refreshment rather than accommodation, and was built on the location of the old barracks and stables of the castle rather than in the castle building itself. Picardo wanted large windows so visitors could enjoy the views; building in the castle would either mean making substantial openings in the original walls or building above the height of the battlements. Neither idea was acceptable to him.Using the elongated site at the top of the hill, Picardo planned a dining room, a lounge, service accommodation and guest rooms. He styled his new building on the layout and dimensions of the old castle and on what had been discovered during his research of its surviving interior designs. Work started in 1963, and the Parador opened to guests on 11 September 1965.The first phase, built only as a hoster\u00eda, had on the first floor 7 double guest rooms with fireplaces and with wooden balconies of a design that Picardo would repeat in a number of his later Parador designs. A mezzanine floor housed a cafeter\u00eda and a bar with an outside terrace, and on the ground floor was the reception area, the lounge and the restaurant, together with the service areas. There were also four single rooms for drivers, and a mechanical workshop.Picardo's Parador at Ja\u00e9n was a pastiche, which paid homage to the neighbouring castle. The basic structure was 20th-century concrete, steel, block and cement but he completely hid it from the public gaze with stone, brick, timber and iron in a way that suggested age and implied that the cladding materials formed the entire construction. The 20 metres high vault of the lounge appears to be built entirely of brick, but the structural impression is false; the Parador's admiring guests are not aware of the modern supporting skeleton behind the brick. Also much admired are the six impressively large and lofty stone arches in the dining room, which appear to support the ceiling and roof and achieve \"una sensaci\u00f3n espacial espectacular\" (a spectacular spatial sensation), but are in fact hiding the room's steel frame.In a second phase in 1969 Picardo added service rooms on the south wall, allowing the old service area to be converted into a further 12 guest rooms.In the late 1960s and early 1970s excessive rain caused a number of landslips in the unstable ground around the castle and hoster\u00eda and Picardo was regularly called in to strengthen the building.. Picardo returned to the project in 1973 to build a further extension in the same style. This was erected to the west of the first building and was joined to it by a tower which allowed for a change of heights between the original building and the new one. 24 guest rooms were added by the new extension, on two floors, bringing the total to 43. Picardo was hampered by the layout of the available land, and by limitations in the height to which he could build, so the extension elongated the building in a way that produced long corridors and distances between bedrooms and public areas. With the opening of Picardo's extension, the building was elevated to the title of Parador. It was inaugurated in 1978.Picardo also designed the building's interior, producing furniture, wall-hangings, shutters, carpets, light fittings, door furniture, floor and wall tile patterns and so on to continue emphasising the building's medieval ambience. He also used coats of arms from demolished buildings for both the interior and exterior of the Parador. He featured hand-painted written ceramic tiles, produced by Juan Manuel Arroyo, to decorate and 'sign' the building, to expound on its history and to credit the surveyor and stoneworker.In an article about the Ja\u00e9n Parador for an architectural magazine in 1967, Picardo rhapsodised about the mood and aura he had created for the building: \"Exterior, un conjunto de masas elementales rectangulares./Interior, techos con artesas, b\u00f3vedas y arcos, madera, barro y piedra. .../Ay del romancero!\" (Outside, a gathering of rectangular blocks./Inside, artesonado ceilings, vaults and arches, wood, clay and stone. .../Oh, the romance!)In the same article Picardo credited his \"maestros\" (masters): \"Torres-Balb\u00e1s, Moya, Sota y Luis Santamaria. Ninguno de ells la ha vista. Qu\u00e9 dir\u00e1n?\" (None of them has seen it. What will they say?). At Jaen, and at Guadalupe, finished at much the same time, Picardo established a style of architecture and interior design which found favour with his clients and their guests and which he was to pursue in most of his further work for Paradores, refining it where required and elsewhere repeating it faithfully. Parador de Arcos de la Frontera: Casa del Corregidor. The Parador at Arcos de la Frontera in the province of C\u00e1diz in Andaluc\u00eda is located in the centre of the old town, at the top of the cliffs that overhang the Rio Guadalete. Picardo first visited the triangular site in February 1964. He decided immediately that the fa\u00e7ades of the buildings facing the Plaza de Espa\u00f1a and the castle should be preserved, while the rest of the site \u2014 the old municipal slaughterhouse and other public utility premises and houses \u2014 should be demolished, though seven 2.35 metre columns from a patio within one of the buildings should be preserved to be used in the new building.In the twelve months from February 1964 all the demolition work was carried out. Picardo started work in October that year. He encountered a problem with a 15 centimetres wide crack across the top of the cliff which had been caused by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.  He surmounted it by constructing a patio rather than building on the fractured zone next to the cliff edge. This single deck was built as an independent structure separated from the main building, so that any future movement of the terrain would not effect the Parador itself.. Picardo's design of the Parador was a copy of a typical Andaluc\u00edan residence with an entrance hallway leading to a typical patio, open to the sky, with terracing supported by the seven reused columns (though one further column had to be made to copy the others so as to achieve the same number of columns on all four sides). There were further small secondary patios. The dining room and sitting room were positioned to take advantage of the widespread views to the south and southwest over and beyond the river.Throughout the building Picardo copied many Andaluc\u00edan architectural features, most particularly in the ceilings, using exposed pine wood joists, linked by vaulted plasterwork, and the floors which were terracotta throughout. As at Guadalupe and J\u00e1en, Picardo designed much of the interior furniture, fittings, lighting and decoration, copying many of the features, both large and small, he had used in the earlier projects. He also used his typical ceramic tiles throughout the building, both for decoration and for explanatory texts.Picardo planned 18 guest rooms, but initially only 9 were built, some in the building facing the plaza, and the rest fronting the cliff-edge view. The latter benefitted from the same design of open wooden galleries Picardo had utilised at Ja\u00e9n. The Parador opened to guests on 7 November 1966.Picardo returned to Arcos in 1974 to complete his original plan, building another floor on the part of the building overlooking the cliff, using the same design features, and increased the number of guest rooms to 18. The extension entered service in 1979. Hoster\u00eda de Pedraza: Hoster\u00eda Pintor Zuloaga. In 1965 Picardo was commissioned by Paradores to restore and rehabilitate the old Casa de la Inquisici\u00f3n (House of the Inquisition) in the small, historic village of Pedraza, 37 kilometres northeast of Segovia in  Castilla y Le\u00f3n. It was to be a hoster\u00eda - only a restaurant and a bar - without guest rooms.The three-storey property was mostly in ruins when Picardo surveyed it and was consequently not protected by conservation laws. He was therefore free to carry out his renovation as he saw fit, building on the medieval and rural ambience of the village. On the exterior he rearranged and improved the windows, preserved the surviving coat of arms above the front door, and at the rear added what was becoming his signature open wooden gallery on the top floor. Inside, Picardo followed the rustic style of the region's inns, building a spacious lounge behind the entrance hall, with a large and low fireplace, and on the upper floors the bar and the 90-seat dining-room opening onto the balcony-gallery.Once again, Picardo designed his own furniture and other fittings, the lighting and decoration, following the local style.. The hoster\u00eda - named \"Pintor Zuloaga\" - opened to the public on 14 December 1967.At the same time Picardo raised the idea of expanding the property by purchasing neighbouring buildings. He had been concerned that the Hoster\u00eda had restricted views, and felt that an extension could be designed with extensive views of the Sierra de Guadarrama to the south. His plans offered the prospect of 16 guest rooms and in November 1969 the proposal to convert the Hoster\u00eda into a Parador was made public. However, difficulties in purchasing the neighbouring property made the project impossible.The Pedraza Hoster\u00eda continued in operation until 15 December 1992 when economic pressures on the Parador chain caused its closure. Parador de Alca\u00f1iz: La Concordia. In 1966 Picardo began the conversion into a Parador of the Palacio de los Comendadores at Alca\u00f1iz in the province of Teruel in Aragon. The palace - the fa\u00e7ade of which was remodelled in late-Renaissance style in 1728 - stood as the most prominent additional part of the Castillo de los Calatravos (Castle of the Calatravos), a monastery-fortress built in 1179. The oldest parts of the structure, a keep, a church and a cloister, date to the 12th and 13th centuries.The section of the property set aside for Picardo's conversion was the immense south wing, which was flanked by two towers and divided into three floors, the ground floor built of ashlar and the upper two floors of brick. There were balconies on the first floor, and on the uppermost floor a characteristic Aragonese long gallery had been developed, created by a succession of semi-circular arches. The castle had been allowed to fall into disrepair and in some parts into ruin, but in 1925 it was declared a National Monument.When Picardo began work on the design he found that space in the palace was limited and he was unable to provide more than 12 guest rooms. His plan for the public areas included the conversion of two large and long ground floor interiors, with pointed barrel-vaulted ceilings, on each side of the building's entrance. To the left of the entry, in the original guardhouse, he placed the reception area and to the right, where the old stables were situated, he placed the bar and cafeter\u00eda, adding one single window to each space to allow in some daylight. In these rooms Picardo left the exposed masonry of the walls and ceilings. The main dining room, which he placed on the first floor, connected by the main staircase from the ground floor, was based on the great hall of a palace. In it he featured a large fireplace and chimney at one end, and used a multitude of large timber beams to shape a coffered ceiling, with decorative plasterwork strung below.. The twelve guest rooms were arranged on the second floor, but the windows being high in the walls, Picardo arranged for a raised area in front of each window so that guests could see out of the windows with greater ease. The public corridors followed the design pioneered by Picardo at Ja\u00e9n of imitation stone groin vaults at regular intervals.In planning the interior decoration Picardo determined that the ground floor would be medieval in design in keeping with the original military use of the palace, and the upper floors would be more palatial in decor. He designed much of the joinery, the beds, the tables, the chairs and, in particular, the light fittings, making use of the emblem of the Order of Calatrava as a decorative motif. His attention to detail even extended to the design of hinges and handles for doors, and for the heads of nails used in the door faces. He also made considerable use of his characteristic ceramic murals decorating the public parts of the building, including his history of the castle, all produced by his favoured ceramicist, Juan Manuel Arroyo, and signed by Picardo.The Parador opened for service on 18 May 1968 and was inaugurated on 6 July 1968.As early as 1972 Picardo had reported to the Ministry of Information and Tourism on the feasibility of carrying out further work to increase the number of rooms at Alca\u00f1iz. In 1975 he designed a new two-storey wing for the ruined west side of the complex which would double the number of guests rooms. His plans lay in abeyance until 1998 when the architect Carlos Fern\u00e1ndez-Cuenca G\u00f3mez resurrected Picardo's original 1975 designs. They had to be altered somewhat in the light of archeological discoveries made since 1975, but much of Picardo's ideas were incorporated in the expansion of the Parador, bringing the number of guest rooms to 38. Hoster\u00eda de C\u00e1ceres: El Comendador. In 1966 Picardo was commissioned by the Ministry of Information and Tourism to work on the Palacio del Comendador de Alc\u00faescar (Commander's Palace of Alc\u00faescar), also known as the Palacio de los Marqueses de Torre Orgaz, in the historic centre of C\u00e1ceres in the province of the same name in Extremadura. Originally built as a medieval fortified residence on pre-existing Arab buildings in 1488, the palace was modified in later centuries, adding Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements. The Ministry proposed the conversion of one part of the palace into a Hoster\u00eda.The part of the building on which Picardo was to work was a jumble of old buildings, some attached to the main palace building and some free-standing, which had mostly formed stables and coach houses. There was also a patio-garden between these buildings and the palace and its tower.. Picardo began by demolishing most of the ramshackle service buildings, other than the square structure at Number 6 Calle Ancha which benefitted from substantial stone walls and four brick, groined vaults. Picardo decided the lower ground floor of this building would form the bar and cafeter\u00eda, with a doorway from the street which would become the main entrance to the Hoster\u00eda. He erected three further floors above the lower-ground floor, reusing many architectural elements from the demolished buildings. Picardo also installed a sgraffito image above the main doorway, featuring the cross of the Orden de Santiago (Order of Santiago).A new one-storey building was erected to the rear of the plot, imitating similar buildings in the city. Ashlar and solid brick formed the interior and exterior facings of the walls, and pantiles were utilised on the roofs. Picardo also excavated large areas beneath the buildings to make service areas. He designed and built a stone and iron enclosure and entrance gateway from the street to the patio garden. Throughout, his intention was to make the Hoster\u00eda appear, through imitation, to be an integral historic part of the old city centre.Internally, Picardo repeated many of his pastiche medievalisms as seen in his previous Parador projects, with much use of heavy timber, such as a dark coffered ceiling in the dining room and classic Castilian designs for windows, doors, furniture, and light fittings. Terracotta tiles were used for the floors in the bar, the dining room and the two lounges.The Hoster\u00eda de C\u00e1ceres opened on 18 May 1971.Further work for Picardo included the complete re-roofing of the palace, which involved renewing the roof structure, because of what he described as \"a degree of imminent ruin due to its terrible wooden structure\", and an extension to the original dining room area by glassing-in the colonnaded portico facing the patio garden.. In 1970 Picardo had suggested to the Ministry that the rest of the palace could be converted into a full Parador, utilising the already converted Hoster\u00eda. This proposal was not taken up at the time, and a Parador was opened elsewhere in the city.The Hoster\u00eda was closed in June 1984 because it was not making a profit. At that point the rest of the palace was, as Picardo had recommended, restored and converted and, with his original Hoster\u00eda, opened as a full Parador with 27 guest rooms on 10 October 1989. Picardo was not involved in this work.. Subsequent expansions into neighbouring buildings have turned the Parador into a much larger establishment. Picardo's original entrance, bar and cafeter\u00eda area now form a sumptuous suite, though the medieval aura of his interior decoration and furnishings for that part of the building has been lost through modernisation. Parador de Carmona: Alcazar del Rey Don Pedro. In 1966, while building the Parador at Arcos de la Frontera, Picardo was commissioned to inspect three ancient sites near the city of Sevilla in the province of the same name in Andaluc\u00eda with a view to constructing another Parador. After looking at the castle at Alcal\u00e1 de Guada\u00edra, and the palaces of \u00c9cija, he came across the ruined castle of Carmona the Alc\u00e1zar del Rey Don Pedro (also known as the Alc\u00e1zar de Arriba y Puerta de Marchena). In his subsequent report to the Ministry of Information and Tourism Picardo was enthusiastic about Carmona and provided preliminary sketch designs, which the Ministry accepted, and in 1968 he began his preparatory work.The origin of the castle is probably Muslim and Pedro I restored it in the 14th century into a lavish palace in Mud\u00e9jar style. It was used by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain during their final battles with the Moors in Granada. The castle was abandoned after being severely damaged in a 1504 earthquake whose epicentre was near Carmona and ruined even further in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Seven towers remained, but most of the connecting walls of the fortress were in ruins.. Picardo chose the southeast of the vast castle area, a corner known as the Plaza de Armas (parade ground) to build the Parador. Situated at the highest point of the town, the views were judged to be spectacular, looking far over the plains.. Picardo also resolved to position the building on the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley and overlapping the foundations of the original castle walls by such an extent that there would be space for guest rooms within the sloping walls below the Parador's ground floor. The 1504 earthquake and Picardo's location of the building were to set up permanent problems for the Parador. In 1918 a survey of the area had revealed that the earthquake had opened a deep crack more than a metre wide in exactly the position where Picardo intended to locate the Parador's southern wall. The result was that one part of the castle's ancient wall, and the land behind it, had subsided by about 180 centimetres. As the crack and the subsidence had been concealed by rubble to a depth of about half a metre, and Picardo and his engineers were unaware of the results of previous surveys, it was not until work began in 1969 preparing for the new building that the potential instability of the ground was revealed.. The Service Geol\u00f3gico de Obras P\u00fablicas (the Public Works Geological Service) was brought in and located an underground fault of three to four metres. Despite that, the geologists considered the ground to be stable and decided that as long as certain protective measures to protect the foundations were taken the terrain would present sufficient resistant characteristics. Cement was injected to fill all the cavities and a reinforced concrete slab was constructed which, belatedly, allowed work on the Parador to continue.Picardo designed a typical Hispanic-Arabic layout with two central patios, one of which would be the centre of the public area, and the other the centre of the service department. The layout would effectively reproduce that of the original fortress. Even though it was an entirely new building, in keeping with his previous works for Paradores Picardo ensured it would be in vernacular form and would appear to be historic and as if elements of it had been there for centuries. The south and east walls of the building, which descended well below the parade ground level, would have four floors, and be sloping steeply outwards towards the ground below the cliff, allowing for the installation of rooms within them. Conversely, on the parade ground entrance side of the building there would be only two floors.Picardo's first plan was that there would be 23 double guest rooms and 10 singles, together with the hospitality and service areas. The considerable delay in the start of building to allow the ground to be stabilised encouraged the Ministry to decide on a pre-completion expansion of the building, bringing the total guest capacity from 56 to 102. Most of the rooms would be on the southern fa\u00e7ade with some below the Parador's access level and others in what from the outside would appear to be the third and fourth floors, with those on the top floor, just beneath the roof, benefitting from Picardo's now typical timber balconies.The main structure of the building, as was Picardo's style, was formed of concrete, clad with ashlar and brickwork and enhanced by buttresses. The roof was formed of clay pantiles, topped with decorative chimneys of the same style as those Picardo designed for the Parador at Guadalupe, disguising guest bathroom ventilation outlets. Internally, he installed limestone columns and made much use of ceramic tiling, and brick. The floors were marble and terracotta.. As in previous Paradores built by Picardo he had control of the interior decoration down to the smallest detail, in Carmona achieving a Hispanic-Arabic ambience of a palatial Mud\u00e9jar style, with much use of coffered ceilings and star lattice-work in wood and stone and subtle changes of style in the progression from room to room. The public patio was adorned with semi-circular arches on tall, slender pillars, while the dining room was more robustly medieval in a gothic style with exposed wooden beams and pointed arches with finely cut stone hiding the structural ironwork of the roof. Lights and furniture, door fittings and mural tiles were all designed by Picardo.The Carmona Parador was inaugurated on 30 March 1976 by King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sof\u00eda.. In the year of the Parador's inauguration a large crack was detected parallel to the south fa\u00e7ade, affecting the entire building. To deal with this an expansion joint was constructed that divided the building into two zones. In 1977 Picardo reported that the building had moved in the direction of the valley. He calculated the lateral displacement as 4 centimetres at the expansion joint. There was a 45 degree crack in the Parador indicating a similar degree of slippage in the ground beneath the building. Picardo also indicated a number of smaller cracks in the building, but viewed them as of minor importance.The Service Geol\u00f3gico de Obras P\u00fablicas was brought onto the site again to monitor the building for a period. They found that there was continuing movement, and that this was more noticeable in the rainy season. They recommended that the foundations of the south wall be underpinned.Due to new government policy at the Ministry which required only employed personnel to work on Parador buildings, Picardo \u2014 as a freelance \u2014 could not be involved in the building's structural problems after 1978.Despite underpinning in 1980, and in 1987 a tie beam being concreted in the ground at the foot of the south wall with anchors penetrating deep into the sandstone beneath the building, more movement was detected in 1996. In 2013 it was reported that further cracks had been detected in the area where the large cracks had first appeared in 1977. The building is considered to be seriously at risk in the event of a sharp rise in the water table, or another earthquake.Minor improvements and modernisations were carried out in the Parador in 1982 and 1983 under the supervision of the architect Jes\u00fas Valverde Vi\u00f1as. In 1987 an expansion was carried out by the architect Carlos Fern\u00e1ndez-Cuenca G\u00f3mez which included additional guest rooms, and a new pavilion for conventions. He rigidly copied Picardo's style.. The Carmona Parador now has 9 double rooms, 51 twin rooms and 3 single rooms, making a total guest complement of 123. Parador de Sig\u00fcenza: Castillo de Sig\u00fcenza. In 1964 Picardo was involved, with the Ministry of Information and Tourism, in investigating old buildings for conversion into a new Parador in the Province of Guadalajara. Possible locations were the castle at Atienza and the Casa del Cord\u00f3n, an old inn in the same town, the castle at Molina de Arag\u00f3n and the castle at Sig\u00fcenza. He considered the last to be the best proposition despite it being comprehensively ruined. It stands prominently above the town and cathedral of Sig\u00fcenza and dominates the landscape. The Ministry set about acquiring it the same year. The Castillo de los Obispos de Sig\u00fcenza (the Castle of the Bishops of Sig\u00fcenza) was a palace-fortress with Iberian, Roman, Visigothic and Moorish origins. It was enlarged and modified repeatedly between the 14th and 18th centuries, after which it declined and deteriorated, suffering progressive damage during the French invasion, the Carlist Wars, and finally during the Spanish Civil War when it was bombed by artillery and from the air during the Battle of Guadalajara in 1937. It was then left in ruins for over three decades.Starting in October 1969 Picardo analysed the condition of the building. \"The state of the castle could not have been more pitiful\" he wrote years later. \"Its military nature had been spoiled by converting its towers into belfries; huge windows and balconies had been opened for living quarters, particularly in the southern part of the castle which had served as the living area for the bishops; all the walls had been covered with plaster and render which hid the original stone; and an endless number of parasitic features had been patched onto it.\" The structure was without roofs and there were numerous collapses along the entire fortified enclosure walls. In his report to the ministry, Picardo was blunt: \"La cobra de este Parador lava en s\u00ed la reconstrucci\u00f3n de todo el castillo, hoy en ruins.\" (The work on this Parador entails the reconstruction of the entire castle, now in ruins)In making his plans for the castle, Picardo resolved that it would be remodelled as totally medieval, without any concession to what remained of later additions, obliviating almost all of its later history. The castle's real past was to be reinvented. Picardo later stated that \"the reconversion mainly consisted of re-creating the military feeling of the castle with its towers and battlements and of leaving as much wall-facing as possible in naked stone. The most delicate part was disguising or hiding the windows of the guest rooms and of other outside rooms which would have spoiled the massive impact a castle should have.\"   Work on converting the castle began in 1972. In pursuit of requiring the castle to appear entirely medieval, and as a fortress rather than as its later existence as a bishop's palace, Picardo raised most of the outer walls by at least one more storey, causing the roofs to be flat rather than sloping and allowing for the hotel accommodation required. The towers, too, were further raised, including the twin towers of the fortified gateway, the barbican, which over the centuries had been restyled almost as belfries with sloping conical roofs.. In search of a military external image Picardo removed all the large windows, balconies and other wide openings which had been cut in the original outer walls of the castle, reducing what windows had to remain in the exterior (other than those of the dining room) to their minimum in size. The parts of the walls which had been destroyed by bombardment during the Civil War were rebuilt using the remaining stone detritus to match the surviving walls. The plaster and rendering with which the exterior walls were faced (in parts in sgraffito) was removed to reveal the original bare stone. Later buildings attached to the exterior of the building were demolished and any extraneous cladding was removed. All the surrounding walls and towers were crenellated.. Picardo cleared the central courtyard of all the post-medieval accretions. His criterion was what he termed \"unidid de estilo\" (unity of style): clearing the property of all non-medieval additions because he felt they distorted the castle's \"guerrero\" (warrior) intensity. 40,000 tons of debris were removed from the courtyard.In his reconstruction of the interior of the castle Picardo exercised the standard practice of the Paradores network, and of which he was deemed to be the master, of using steel, reinforced concrete, blockwork and cement to erect the basic structure but hiding those modern elements behind a faked historical veneer of walls, beams, arches, and cladding made of stone, brick, timber and iron. Because the ingress of light to the interior of the building had been reduced by the minimising of the size of the exterior windows that remained, daylight had to reach the interior by making many window openings in the courtyard walls.. On the north wall of the courtyard and approached from the outside by the barbican towers, Picardo installed the main reception area and rebuilt a portico area with pillars and intermediate glass. Above were bedrooms with balconied terraces erected in his signature timber style. He repeated the historical rendering of the exterior facades of the castle which had been decorated with sgraffito, and which he had removed, by replicating the decoration on the northern walls of the courtyard.In the northeast corner of the ground floor had been the bishops' throne room, and Picardo here installed the main guest lounge, a lofty room with a timber-beamed ceiling and two large fireplaces and chimneys. On the east side of the ground floor was the dining room, with the building's only large windows, which looked out onto the wooded ravine of the Arroyo Vadillo. The room used Picardo's favoured powerful stone vaulting to hide the steel supporting structure of the floor above. On the courtyard side of the dining room he placed a similarly vaulted bar and caf\u00e9. Wide wooden staircases on this eastern side led to the first and second floor bedrooms, a few of which were in the northeast tower with windows looking over the town, and some towards the south, but most looking into the courtyard with those on the upper floor benefitting from Picardo's typical  balconies. Another lounge with a wooden coffered ceiling was located on the first floor. Picardo took care to preserve one of the oldest rooms of the castle, the original chapel.. A further much smaller, three-storied pastiche monastic courtyard with semi-circular arches was built at the southern end of the castle which had sustained the most damage in the Civil War bombardment, with more guest rooms arranged around it. On the inner face of the west wall the original wine cellars, dungeons, granaries, bakeries and stables were removed and against this wall Picardo installed a 65 metres long banqueting hall with his familiar stone vaulting, and an attached bar room. Below this hall he installed large service areas.. Picardo, as  usual, provided his own interior decor, with special attention to the medieval. He designed classic Castilian-style furniture, flooring, rugs, doors, windows, light fittings, mirrors, heraldic displays, seigneurial crests, banners, explanatory mosaics and so on, everything down to the smallest detail. Picardo built 38 guest rooms and one suite on the first floor, and 42 rooms and one suite on the second floor, providing space for 162 guests. On the wall of the main entrance hall Picardo placed a mural consisting of 45 tiles making up a cartouche recounting, in his own words, the history of the Castillo de los Obispos de Sig\u00fcenza accompanied by a description of the physical work carried out in restoring the building. \"La actual construcci\u00f3n es casi toda nueva ...\" (The present building is almost all new ...) Picardo declaimed. He continued (translated into English): \"... the authentic parts being preserved, though reconstructed, the Romanesque chapel, the entrance and towers as well as the barbican, the two Renaissance doorways of the parade ground and the throne room. \u2026 The perimeter of the castle has been respected, the eastern fa\u00e7ade being completely new and the other three reconstructed and remodelled. Wide gaps have been closed and additions have been demolished, trying to restore the medieval character of the exterior.\" He goes on to say the work was completed in 1976 and that he, Don Jos\u00e9 Luis Picardo, was the architect.The Parador opened to the public on 20 July 1976 and the first stage of building work was finished in November of that year. It was inaugurated by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sof\u00eda in April 1978. Sig\u00fcenza was to be Picardo's last major project for the Paradores.. Remodelling and modernisation of the Parador took place in 1990 under the direction of the architect Carlos Fern\u00e1ndez-Cuenca G\u00f3mez who scrupulously followed Picardo's style. Despite these further works, the Parador has kept its original character as established by Picardo. Most of the improvements have been only to modernise the services and facilities. Other Parador projects. In the 1960s and 1970s Picardo was called upon by the Ministry of Information and Tourism to investigate and report on a number of other old buildings for possible conversion into Paradores. He drew up proposals and plans for a number of these buildings but, despite detailed work on some of them, they did not become Paradores within his working life or were completed by other architects. Picardo was also asked to review proposed works for similar buildings to be restored by other architects, and to develop ideas for improvements to existing Paradores.. Among the most advanced plans Picardo drew up were in 1969 for the renovation and conversion into a Parador of the castle at Puebla de Alcocer, a small municipality 70 miles east of M\u00e9rida in the Province of Badajoz in Extremadura. His draft plans show that a multitude of openings would have to have been made in the outside walls for windows. An access road was built, but ultimately the project did not materialise.Another project, in 1970, was the conversion into a Parador of the 11th century remains of the castle in Monz\u00f3n, in the Province of Huesca in Aragon, but Picardo judged the project to be unviable and the idea was abandoned by 1972.Among other buildings Picardo reported on were three for which he executed preliminary designs and drawings and which later became Paradores, though he was not involved in their completion. They were, in 1963, the old palace at Olite in Navarra, in March 1969 the Castillo de la Zuda at Tortosa in the Province of Tarragona in Catalu\u00f1a and in 1970 the castle at Cardona in the Province of Barcelona in Catalu\u00f1a.Picardo also surveyed several other buildings which were ultimately destined not to become Paradores. Among them were the Castillo de San Ant\u00f3n at A Coru\u00f1a in 1968, the Posada del Cord\u00f3n at Atienza in the province of Guadalajara in 1969, in 1970 the Palacio del De\u00e1n and the Palacio del Dr Trujillo at Plasencia in the Province of C\u00e1ceres in Extremadura, and in 1971 the Castillo de Segunto near Valencia. Also in 1971 Picardo inspected the castle at Molina de Arag\u00f3n in the province of Guadalajara, and possibly also in 1971 the Castillo de Valderrobres in Teruel in Aragon. In 1972 he surveyed the castle at Trujillo in the Province of C\u00e1ceres in Extremadura, the cave houses of Mes\u00f3n Gitano (now known as the yacimiento arqueol\u00f3gico Barrio Almohad\u00ed (archeological site Barrio Almohad\u00ed) and the nearby Alcazaba of Almer\u00eda, and the castle-fortress at Aracena in the Province of Huelva in Andaluc\u00eda. In 1975 he also developed improvements for one of the earliest existing Paradores, opened in 1929, the castle at Ciudad Rodrigo in the Province of Salamanca in Castilla y Le\u00f3n. Controversial legacy of Picardo's Paradores. It was not unusual in Spain in the 1960s and 1970s for the rehabilitation of castles and convents (not all destined to be Paradores) to be carried out without archeological research either before work began, which would have added to expense and delayed the project, or while work was being carried out. Instead, Picardo's rebuilding projects were planned mostly on the basis of his own historical and architectural research. The hotel conversions and the demolition of large parts of monumental buildings without detailed investigation and record-keeping was somewhat frowned upon in the 1960s and 1970s, and over half a century later is seen by archeologists and historians as a matter of significant controversy and regret. Picardo's work at Sig\u00fcenza, in particular, converting a castle-palace into a Parador, has been decried as \"medieval scenery for tourist accommodation\".The leading researcher into the architectural history of the Paradores network and its restoration of architectural heritage, Dr Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 Rodr\u00edguez P\u00e9rez, has extensively documented and studied the work of Picardo and his fellow Paradores architects of the 1960s and 1970s in her lengthy and detailed doctoral thesis and subsequent books and publications. She has described the architects' objective as being escenograf\u00eda convincente (convincing set design) to evoke the historical era considered to be of interest to tourists, generally the medieval period. In writing of the new extensions which were designed to be identical to the monuments to which they were attached \u2014 Picardo's Parador at J\u00e4en is a good example \u2014 she has described them as being \"falso hist\u00f3rico\" (false history) ... \"a replica whose documentary value has been masked or even lost\".In Picardo's defence, his early mentor Fernando Choeca Goitia defined him as \"un arquitecto sue entiende la arquitectura como arte\" (an architect who understands architecture as art). Picardo himself maintained: \"El Arte es eterno ...\"(Art is eternal ...), \"...it is always current. The reconstructions of the castles are really false. If they are Art, they are justified and if they are not, they are truly condemnable.\" Picardo had no qualms about his film set concept of restoration, using modern construction techniques and concealing them with traditional materials, as long as the buildings looked old rather than modern. One Spanish academic, an assistant professor of architecture and design, writing of Picardo's artistry, has stated: \"The end ... justified the means, in such a way that in his work we can find an impressive rib vault supported by a hidden metallic substructure, a coffered ceiling suspended from a concrete slab or a stone retaining wall with a reinforced concrete core.\" He goes on to say that faced with the dilemma of adopting a \"mimetic and conservative attitude or a more modern and disruptive approach\", Picardo claimed supremacy for Art. \"En Arte todo es posible\" (In Art everything is possible), wrote Picardo in 1994. \"A good architect will know how to weigh up both solutions and his sensitivity shall dictate his choice.\"Despite the current views of historians, Picardo's Paradores \u2014 particularly those at J\u00e4en, Carmona and Sig\u00fcenza \u2014 though pastiche, remain amongst the most popular of the network's hotels. One United States travel writer enthused about J\u00e4en: \"I love this parador, so dramatic in its setting, so theatrically conceived ... Inside, the deception is masterly, creating an ambience as old and austere as it is surrealistic and extravagant.\" Other historical restorations. Demonstrating his educated and precise knowledge of classical styles, during his career Picardo carried out restoration works on the Catedral de C\u00e1diz, deleteriously affected by salt from being near the sea, the Real Monasterio de Santa Mar\u00eda de Guadalupe, the Catedral de Santa Mar\u00eda de Sig\u00fcenza, damaged during the Civil War, and in the tiny Ermita del Humilladero in the Sierra de Villuercas. He rehabilitated the Antiguo Palacio del Marqu\u00e9s de Montana (also known as Palacio Domecq) in Jerez, rebuilt the Palacio de Gamazo in Madrid which had been partially demolished three years before, restored the Castillo de San Felipe in Puerto de la Cruz de Tenerife and in his last project worked on the Archivo Hist\u00f3rico Provincial de Salamanca in the old centre of the city in 1995. Fundaci\u00f3n Juan March. In 1970 Picardo was invited to compete with fellow notable architects Javier Carvajal Ferrer and Mariano Garc\u00eda Benito for the contract to design and build a new headquarters building in the Salamanca neighbourhood of Madrid for the Fundaci\u00f3n Juan March (Juan March Foundation) which promotes Spanish culture and science. He was asked to take part after Juan March himself was impressed by Picardo's work at the Parador in Ja\u00e9n. In 1971, Picardo, after seeking inspiration in the buildings of Greece and New York which he claimed provided \"two basic architectural references: the classic perfection of the Parthenon and the constructive audacity of the new languages of New York\", Picardo's design won the competition and he was awarded the contract for the building.. Picardo designed a building of \"extreme simplicity and elegance, of great architectural beauty and modernity\".  Located between Calle de Castell\u00f3 and Calle de Padilla, the building, started in 1972, consisted of seven floors at ground level and above, measuring 1,400 square metres in all, and four below ground, measuring 3,000 square metres. Picardo's purpose in burying most of the building below ground was to obtain the maximum amount of free land for the garden. It was conceived as a cube with the same dimensions on each of the four fa\u00e7ades and designed with continuous horizontal banding without break around the corners. The ribbon windows, formed of near-black anodised aluminium frames and dark coloured glass, alternated with bands of white Carrara marble cladding laid in a uniquely patterned bond. Black and white were to be the dominant colours, but Picardo, for reasons of time, was forced to accept an off-white marble mistakenly delivered for the fa\u00e7ades rather than the pure white that was ordered.For the interior of the building Picardo designed several assembly halls, auditoria for concerts, theatre, cinema and conferences, along with numerous exhibition and gallery spaces, libraries, offices, Council rooms, conveniences and two floors of car parking below ground. The predominant materials used inside the building were white marble, bronze and walnut, with much carpeting and a wide staircase with fabric walls. The dominant colours were dark brown and beige.. In detail, Picardo set a large entrance hall and an exhibition space of more than 400 square metres on the ground floor, administration and the archive department on the first floor, a library with reading rooms and book storage on the second floor, and offices, meeting rooms and banqueting areas and reserve space on the remaining upper floors. Two of the basement floors were dedicated to car parking for about 100 cars and for services, while another basement floor housed two venues for events, conferences, concerts and theatre performances, one of them with 300 seats, the other with 100. A large hall connected the two performance spaces.Picardo integrated pictorial and sculptural works into the architecture itself and many pieces were produced by artists and sculptors specifically for the building. Among them were sculptures by Eduardo Chillida and Pablo Serrano and a mural by Joaqu\u00edn Vaquero Turcios. Prominent amongst the artworks Picardo designed for his own building were the large bronze double doors in the south fa\u00e7ade leading to the garden. The garden itself, of 1,700 square metres and also designed by Picardo, was intended from the original concept to be a notable part of the project.The building was inaugurated in January 1975 to acclaim. One observer has noted that in producing the building Picardo had been \"controlling proportions and spaces with complete ease and achieving one of the best buildings in the recent history of Madrid\". Picardo himself described it as his best work. Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Equestre. In 1978 Picardo was commissioned by the Ministry of Information and Tourism to build a public indoor riding arena for the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Equestre (Royal Andaluc\u00edan School of Equestrian Art) in Jerez de la Frontera, his birthplace. The school was established in 1973, dedicated to preserving the heritage of the Pura Raza Espa\u00f1ola (Pure Bred Spanish horse). It had few decent facilities until the interest and involvement in its activities of Prince Juan Carlos (later the King of Spain) and the Ministry's subsequent decision to take charge of the school.. Picardo's commission from the Ministry was to design a sala de equitaci\u00f3n, a huge arena for horse and riding displays, in particular the school's signature performance \"Como Bailan los Caballos Andaluces\" (\"How the Andalusian Horses Dance\") which would seat up to 1,600 spectators. Connected to it were to be stable facilities for 60 horses.Picardo utilised a neo-Renaissance style which in its colouring referred to Andaluc\u00eda. Externally most of the structure was coloured in a deep ochre, representative of the land and soil of the region while the infilling of the fa\u00e7ades copied the stark white of traditional Andaluc\u00edan village homes. Rows of relief pillars were the perceived support for the immense crowning hip roof, with between them 54 large circular windows in a single row around the building. Above them, in the roof, Picardo positioned 36 dormer windows serving as ventilation. At ground level was another row of circular windows each placed within its own semi-circular arch and pseudo-supporting pillars.. Internally, the display area is rectangular with spectator seating on six tiers around the arena. Picardo repeated the external colouring inside the hall, with the ochre of the loose sand on which the horses perform, and bright white walls and pitched ceiling reflecting daylight from the many windows. At one end of the arena is the royal box and at the other the grand entrance, beneath flags, which leads to the stables and a central octagonal two-level tack room. Five stable blocks radiate out from the tack room, each with twelve boxes. Within the stables, Picardo repeated his images from the outside, with rows of semi-circular arches topping simple stone pillars.. The Sal de Equitaci\u00f3n was opened for performances in 1980. Guernica in the Museo Nacional del Prado. When Pablo Picasso's large 1937 anti-war painting Guernica was brought to Spain in 1981 from its then home in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, it was decided to hang it permanently in the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, as Picasso had requested. Picardo and fellow architect Jos\u00e9 Garc\u00eda Mar\u00eda de Paredes, jointly heading a technical team, were commissioned to design a means of displaying the painting securely in the Sal\u00f3n de Luca Giordano in the Museum's annexe, the Cas\u00f3n del Buen Retiro.The painting had to be protected by armoured glass from bombs, bullets, and vandalism. The architects' problem was that, while the painting is 7.76 metres long by 3.49 metres high, the largest sheet of 18mm triple armoured glass available at that time was smaller, at 7.50 metres by 2.45 metres. The decision was therefore made to install the painting some distance away from the main sheet of glass, so that the metal frame of the glass would not infringe on the view of the image. The solution for the display was to build an armoured glass and steel polyhedron case whose bevels, for full security, would meet the floor, the walls and the ceiling around the picture. The main glass itself was set at 10 degrees to the vertical to avoid reflections. The sources of illumination would be within the case. The size of the room in which the picture was displayed \u2014 a large high space originally created as a ballroom \u2014 allowed the whole canvas to be viewed from 25 metres away.Guernica was installed in September 1981 and the room opened to the public on 25 October that year, Picasso's centenary. Within a year, over one million people had seen Guernica in its new Picardo/de Paredes setting. Opinions of the method of display differed. The artist's daughter, Paloma Picasso, applauded the location and the method of display, as did Spanish artist Josep Renau. Catalan architect, Josep Llu\u00eds Sert, described it as \"magnificent\". The British art critic and collector, Douglas Cooper, wrote that the painting was \"admirably lit, there being no shadows, no reflections and no distortions.\" He went on: \"Never in its history has Guernica been displayed so beautifully or so entirely to its advantage.\" Others were not so convinced. It was reported that the fact the installation was built by the technicians of the C\u00edrculo de Bellas Artes rather than by the Prado's own staff brought practical difficulties. And British art critic, David Sylvester, maintained years later that when Guernica was returned to Spain in 1981 \"it was hung in an annexe to the Prado, where by common consent it was not seen to advantage.\"In 1992 Guernica was controversially moved from the Museo Nacional del Prado (where Picasso had wanted the painting to be permanently displayed) to a purpose-built gallery at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sof\u00eda. The Picardo/Garc\u00eda de Paredes display installation is no longer in use. Election to the Real Academia. On 3 February 1997, at the age of 78, Picardo was elected Academician of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando), being proposed by Julio Cano Lasso, Fernando Chueca Goitia and Luis Garc\u00eda-Ochoa Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez. He entered the Academy on 22 February 1998 with a speech entitled Hip\u00f3lito, the composition and delivering of an address having been established as one of the requirements after being elected Academician. In it he talked of two of his passions: architecture and the horse. \"The horse is an animal that surpasses the human body in beauty, strength and speed,\" Picardo claimed. \"... and architecture, in turn, is the art that protects this human body and enables and exalts it.\" He confessed that it was impossible for him to decide between architectural beauty and equine beauty because both \"son perfecciones\" (are perfections).In 2000 Picardo gifted the academy his oil painting Guardia civil en el puerto de Alazores, an image of five policemen mounted on five horses in a compact group. The academy observes the complicated juego (game) of the twenty horses' legs of different colours and in different positions seemingly almost entwined.The academy also houses in its collection a portrait of Picardo by Luis Garc\u00eda-Ochoa Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez. Painted in 1953 it portrays Picardo in an informal pose at the age of 34. It was donated to the academy by his sons in 2023. Premio Antonio Camu\u00f1as de Arquitectura. In 2001 Picardo won the prestigious Premio Antonio Camu\u00f1as de Arquitectura (Antonio Camu\u00f1as Prize for Architecture). The prize has been awarded every two years since 1985. Its purpose is to recognise the oeuvre of a Spanish architect who has stood out in his or her work for architectural renovation. The prize jury praised Picardo, the ninth winner, as an architect \"knowledgeable about our culture ... who has quietly exercised his professional activity, reinterpreting and valuing the richness of our historical heritage.\" Personal life. Picardo married Trinidad de Ribera Talavera and they had five children: three boys and two girls.In a rare public description of Picardo's personality a US travel journalist wrote of him in 1972 as \"a package of energy, wit and imagination ... eyes twinkling\".Picardo died on 27 July 2010 in Madrid. ", "title": "Jos\u00e9 Luis Picardo", "qa_pairs": "[{'Q': \"How many people were in Picardo's family when he was twelve?\\n1. seven\\n2. six\\n3. five\\n4. four\", 'A': '3', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': [\"His father was Alvaro Picardo de\\nCelis and his mother's family name was Castell\u00f3n. He had four brothers,one of brothers died in infancy.\", 'His father died in 1929 when Picardo was ten years old.']}, {'Q': 'Picardo created a lots of illustrations for a book named \u300aDibujos de Jose Luis Picardo\u300b in 1960, where is this original book kept now?', 'A': 'The book is long out of print and virtually unknown in Spain, and not at all elsewher.', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': ['The book is long out of print and\\nvirtually unknown in Spain, and not at all elsewhere, but is available second-hand.']}, {'Q': 'How did Picardo build the Parador at the Castillo de Santa Catalina to get a good view for vistors?', 'A': 'He used the elongated site at the top of the hill, styled his new building on the layout and dimensions of the old castle and on what had been discovered during his research of its surviving interior designs.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': ['Using the elongated site at the top of the hill, Picardo planned a dining room, a lounge, service accommodation and guest rooms.', 'He styled his new\\nbuilding on the layout and dimensions of the old castle and on what had been discovered during his research of its surviving interior designs.']}, {'Q': 'How many years did Picardo work for Parador from his first of Parador projects until the bankruptcy on Parador?', 'A': 'Twenty-nine years.', 'type': 'computation', 'S': ['For his first of many Parador projects Picardo was appointed by the Ministry of Information and Tourism in July 1963 to convert into a Parador two ancient neighbouring buildings in the\\nvillage of Guadalupe in the province of C\u00e1ceres in Extremadura.', 'The Pedraza Hoster\u00eda continued in operation until 15 December 1992 when economic pressures on the Parador chain caused its closure.']}, {'Q': 'Picardo dedicated much of his professional life to Paradores, please order these projects by open day:\\n1.Parador de Arcos de la Frontera\\n2.Parador de Guadalupe\\n3.Parador de Carmona', 'A': '2,1,3', 'type': 'timeline_reorder', 'S': ['Restoration at Guadalupe started in November 1963 and the hotel, with twenty double rooms, opened on 11 December 1965.', 'Parador de Arcos de la Frontera opened to guests on 7 November\\n1966.', 'The Carmona Parador was inaugurated on 30 March 1976 by King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sof\u00eda.']}, {'Q': \"All of historians speak highly of Picardo's work, is this true? Why?\", 'A': 'False, because some people believe that Parrado destroyed the part of historical and architectural.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': [\"Instead, Picardo's rebuilding projects were planned mostly on the\\nbasis of his own historical and architectural research. The hotel conversions and the demolition of large parts of monumental buildings without detailed investigation and record-keeping\\nwas somewhat frowned upon in the 1960s and 1970s, and over half a century later is seen by archeologists and historians as a matter of significant controversy and regret.\", 'In writing of the new extensions which were designed to be identical to the monuments to which they were attached \u2014 Picardo\\'s Parador at J?en is a good example \u2014 she has\\ndescribed them as being \"falso hist\u00f3rico\" (false history) ... \"a replica whose documentary value has been masked or even lost\".', \"Despite the current views of historians, Picardo's Paradores \u2014 particularly those at J?en, Carmona and Sig\u00fcenza \u2014 though pastiche, remain amongst the most popular of the network's\\nhotels.\"]}]", "output": "None"}
{"input": " Geography and location. Barcelona, capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, is located in the Spanish Levant, on the Mediterranean coast. Its geographical location is between 41\u00b016' and 41\u00b030' north latitude and between 1\u00b054' and 2\u00b018' east longitude. With an area of 102.16 km\u00b2, it is situated on a plain about 11 km long and 6 km wide, bounded on its sides by the sea and by the Collserola mountain range \u2014with the summit of Tibidabo (516.2 m) as its highest point\u2014, as well as by the deltas of the Bes\u00f3s and Llobregat rivers. Above the coastline and separating the city from the Llobregat delta is the mountain of Montju\u00efc (184.8 m). Also, from the Collserola mountain range, several hills that follow a line parallel to the coastal range rise up on the plain: the hills of La Peira (133 m), La Rovira (261 m), El Carmel (267 m), Creueta del Coll (249 m), El Putget (181 m) and Monterols (121 m).The plain of Barcelona is not uniform, but has several undulations caused by the many torrents that once crossed the land, and also has a uniform slope from the sea to the Collserola mountain range, with an ascent of about 260 m. It is crossed by several faults, mainly the one that separates the Collserola mountain range from the hills that come forward in the plain, with a northeast-southwest orientation, and the one that separates the mountain of Montjuic from the coast. The terrain is formed by a substrate of slate and granitic formations, as well as clays and limestones. The coast was formerly occupied by tidal marshes and salt-water lagoons, which disappeared as the coastline advanced thanks to the sediments provided by the rivers and streams that flowed into the beach; it is estimated that since the sixth century BC, the coastline has been able to advance about 5 km. The area of the plain was formerly crossed by numerous torrents and streams, which were grouped into three fluvial sectors: Horta stream in the area near the Bes\u00f2s river (or eastern area); the Blanca stream and the Gornal torrent in the Llobregat area (or western area); and, in the central area of the plain, a group of streams coming from the southern slope of Tibidabo, such as the San Gervasi, Vallcarca, Mag\u00f2ria and Collserola streams.The climate is Mediterranean, with mild winters thanks to the protection that the orography of the terrain offers to the plain, which is sheltered from the north winds. The temperature usually ranges between 9.5 \u00b0C and 24.3 \u00b0C, on average. Rainfall is low, about 600 mm per year, and most of the precipitation occurs in spring and autumn. This scarcity meant that in the past numerous works had to be carried out to supply water to the city, including wells, canals and irrigation ditches. The vegetation of the area consists mainly of pines and evergreen oaks, and undergrowth of heather, laurestine, arbutus and climbing plants. In the past, both rainfed and irrigated agriculture was practiced \u2014mainly vineyards and cereals\u2014, although nowadays almost the entire surface area is built up.Barcelona, capital of the Barcelon\u00e8s region and of the province of Barcelona, is the most important urban center in Catalonia in demographic, political, economic and cultural terms. It is the seat of the autonomous government and the Parliament of Catalonia, as well as the provincial deputation, the archbishopric and the IV Military Region, and has a port, an airport and an important network of railroads and roads. With a population of 1,604,555 inhabitants in 2015, it is the second most populous city in Spain after Madrid, and the eleventh most populous in the European Union. Administrative divisions. Barcelona is divided into 10 districts and 73 neighborhoods: Ciutat Vella (4.49 km\u00b2, 100 685 inhabitants): corresponds to the old core of the city, the one derived from the Roman and medieval periods, plus the Barceloneta neighborhood, created in the eighteenth century. This area received much immigration from the rest of Spain during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, settled mainly in the neighborhoods of Sant Pere and Raval; it has continued to do so during the twenty-first century, although with immigrants from other countries. This district has the oldest and lowest socioeconomic level population in the city, although in the new millennium a slow process of gentrification has begun in parallel to the urban development plans carried out in the district. Being the oldest part of the city, it has numerous monuments and architectural works of interest, making it an important focus of tourist attraction. On the other hand, it houses the most important institutions of the city, such as the City Hall or the Generalitat de Catalunya.. Eixample (7.46 km\u00b2, 263,565 inhabitants): this district arose from the expansion of the old city after the demolition of the walls, thanks to the Cerd\u00e1 Plan drawn up by Ildefons Cerd\u00e0. It is a densely populated district, since in its beginnings it was mainly a residential area where wealthy families stayed after leaving the old part of the city. The social level, however, has stabilized, and today corresponds mainly to the middle class. Even so, it is an important focus of tourist attraction, especially due to the presence of modernist architectural works, which has encouraged trade and the installation in the area of major commercial brands.. Sants-Montju\u00efc (21.35 km\u00b2, 180,824 inhabitants): includes the old town of Sants, annexed to Barcelona in 1897, together with the land of Montju\u00efc mountain, which makes it the largest district of the city; it also includes the Zona Franca. It has a low population density, and its rate of population of foreign origin exceeds the average. It has a high percentage of green area, thanks mainly to the presence of the Montjuic mountain, as well as industrial land.. Les Corts (6.08 km\u00b2, 81,200 inhabitants): it comes from the old town of Les Corts de Sarri\u00e0, added to the city in 1897, with a probable origin in a medieval masia. It was an eminently agricultural area, which in the mid-nineteenth century experienced a significant urban growth with the construction of the area called Corts Noves. The population is mainly autochthonous, and stands out for its high rate of young people. The majority is middle class, although the Pedralbes neighborhood stands out as one of the most exclusive in the city. Its main economic activity is in the tertiary sector, and it is home to numerous financial institutions and office centers.. Sarri\u00e0-Sant Gervasi (20.09 km\u00b2, 145,761 inhabitants): it comes from the union of two former municipalities, Sarri\u00e0 and Sant Gervasi de Cassoles. It is one of the largest districts, especially because it includes a large part of the Collserola mountain range. It is also the district with the lowest population density, mainly because it is a high status residential area, with a predominance of single-family houses. The economy is dominated by quality facilities, as well as private schools and health centers. Its population has the highest rate of higher education and technical and managerial professionals, as well as autochthonous residents, while the foreign population is dominated by the European Union.. Gr\u00e0cia (4.19 km\u00b2, 120,273 inhabitants): has its origins in the old village of Gr\u00e0cia, incorporated into the city in 1897. It was an agricultural area, which in the early nineteenth century began to forge an urban and industrial fabric. It has one of the highest population densities in the city, since its old center is characterized by narrow streets and tightly packed houses. Its population has a high percentage of elderly people and, although the level of education is above average, most are of lower-middle social class.. Horta-Guinard\u00f3 (11.96 km\u00b2, 166,950 inhabitants): comes from the old town of Horta, added in 1904, to which the Guinard\u00f3 district, formerly belonging to Sant Mart\u00ed de Proven\u00e7als, was added administratively. It was an agricultural area and summer residences, which received numerous immigrants, especially in the first two thirds of the twentieth century. Being a peripheral area, it has a low population density, with a predominance of young and lower-middle class population. During the years of massive immigration, it was an area of strong real estate speculation.. Nou Barris (8.04 km\u00b2, 164,516 inhabitants): is the most recently created district, on land segregated from Sant Andreu de Palomar. It is a peripheral area with a majority immigrant population, which also suffered from strong real estate speculation and even suffered from shantyism and self-construction, and which for a long time has suffered from a significant lack of assistance, infrastructure and basic services, which have been mitigated in recent times. The majority of the population is working class and has low purchasing power.. Sant Andreu (6.56 km\u00b2, 145,983 inhabitants): corresponds to the former municipality of Sant Andreu de Palomar, annexed in 1897. It was an agricultural and milling area until the mid-nineteenth century, when numerous industries began to settle. On the other hand, in the mid-twentieth century it received a strong wave of immigration, which was received in neighborhoods of cheap houses and residential estates, such as the Bon Pastor and Bar\u00f3 de Viver. In recent times it has experienced a certain revitalization thanks to commercial activities such as the location of the La Maquinista center or the urbanization of the surroundings of La Sagrera Station to accommodate the arrival of the AVE high-speed train.. Sant Mart\u00ed (10.80 km\u00b2, 232,629 inhabitants): it comes from the old town of Sant Mart\u00ed de Proven\u00e7als, added in 1897. Like the previous one, it was an agricultural and milling area, until the arrival of the Industrial Revolution when numerous factories were installed in the area; however, in recent decades it has suffered a process of deindustrialization, replaced by economic activities more based on new technologies, especially after the location of the so-called 22@ district. This district also welcomed a large immigrant population. Thanks to the 1992 Olympic Games, it underwent a process of renovation of the entire waterfront, where the Olympic Village was located. Historical evolution. The administrative division has varied over time. The first delimitation was established in 1389, when the city was divided into four quarters: Framenors, Pi, Mar and Sant Pere. This division was made by establishing a grid with the Pla\u00e7a del Blat as the geometric center, with the separation of the northern and southern quarters set in the ancient Roman cardo maximus. This separation already showed the social difference between the different parts of the city: Framenors was an aristocratic neighborhood, Pi was residential and civil service, Sant Pere was industrial and commercial, and Mar was popular and religious, since it housed most of the convents and monasteries. In the 15th century, another quarter, Raval, was added, establishing a division that lasted until the 18th century.In 1769 a reform was made by which five quarters were created, each subdivided into eight neighborhoods: I-Palacio included the port and the new neighborhood of Barceloneta; II-San Pedro was an eminently industrial area; III-Audiencia corresponded to the center of the city; IV-Casa de la Ciudad was a mostly residential area; and V-Raval included the land west of La Rambla.Numerous divisions were made in the 19th century, most of them for political reasons, since the districts also marked the electoral districts. The most notable were those of 1837, in which the city was divided into four districts (Lonja, San Pedro, Universidad and San Pablo); and that of 1878, after the demolition of the walls, in which 10 districts were established: I-La Barceloneta, II-Borne, III-Lonja, IV-Atarazanas, V-Hospital, VI-Audiencia, VII-Instituto, VIII-Universidad, IX-Hostafranchs and X-Concepci\u00f3n.Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, several neighboring municipalities were added to the city (Sants, Les Corts, Sant Gervasi de Cassoles, Gr\u00e0cia, Sant Andreu de Palomar, Sant Mart\u00ed de Proven\u00e7als, Sant Joan d'Horta, Sarri\u00e0); a new administrative reorganization was then carried out, again with 10 districts: I-Barceloneta and Pueblo Nuevo, II-San Pedro, III-Lonja and Audiencia, IV-Concepci\u00f3n, V-Atarazanas and Hospital, VI-Universidad, VII-Sans, Las Corts and Hostafranchs, VIII-Gracia and San Gervasio, IX-Horta and Sant Andreu de Palomar, X-Sant Mart\u00ed de Proven\u00e7als.In 1933 a new reformulation was made, also with ten districts: I-Barceloneta, II-Poble Sec and Montju\u00efc, III-Sarri\u00e0, Vallvidrera and Sant Gervasi, IV- Sant Pere and Dreta de l'Eixample, V-Raval, VI-Esquerra de l'Eixample, VII-Sants, Les Corts and Hostafrancs, VIII-Gr\u00e0cia, IX-Horta, Sant Andreu del Palomar, Sagrera and Camp de l'Arpa, X-Sant Mart\u00ed de Proven\u00e7als, Clot and Poblenou. These districts were expanded in 1949 with two more: XI-Les Corts and XII-Sagrada Fam\u00edlia.In 1984 the current division into ten districts was approved, established with the aim of decentralizing the City Council, transferring competencies to the new consistories. The new districts were established with maximum respect for their historical and morphological identity, but also seeking a practical and functional delimitation that would guarantee the residents a wide range of services. In general, an attempt was made to respect the old demarcations coming from the old city, its expansion and the aggregated municipalities, although some areas varied with respect to their historical belonging: Pedralbes, previously belonging to Sarri\u00e0, passed to Les Corts; Vallcarca, before Horta, was incorporated to Gr\u00e0cia; El Guinard\u00f3, originally from Sant Mart\u00ed, was added to Horta; and the new district of Nou Barris was segregated from Sant Andreu.The last reform was carried out in 2006, this time aimed at establishing the neighborhoods that make up each district, with the objective of improving the distribution of facilities and proximity services. Seventy-three neighborhoods were established, stipulated according to historical, cultural and social criteria, although the decision was not without controversy, mainly due to the fragmentation of some historical neighborhoods defended as units by the neighborhood associations: thus, for example, from the neighborhood of El Clot was segregated El Camp de l'Arpa; from Sants was segregated the neighborhood of Badal; Esquerra de l'Eixample was divided between La Nova and L'Antiga Esquerra de l'Eixample; and Poblenou was fragmented into five neighborhoods. Similarly, some neighborhood units were not satisfied with their aspirations to become neighborhoods, such as Can Caralleu, Penitents, Torre Melina or El Polvor\u00ed. The ancient city. Barcelona was founded by Roman colonizers in the first century BC with the name of Barcino. Originally, it was a small walled city which took the urban form of castrum initially, and later oppidum, seated on the Mons Taber (16.9 meters above sea level), a small hill located on the site of the current Pla\u00e7a de Sant Jaume. The maximum splendor of the Roman period took place during the second century, with a population that must have ranged between 3500 and 5000 inhabitants.The main reason for the choice of a small promontory near the coast to build the city was its natural harbor, although the alluvium of the torrents and the sedimentation of sand from the coastal currents would make the port's draught difficult. The center of the city was the forum, the central square dedicated to public life and business. It was located at the confluence of the cardus maximus (Llibreteria and Call streets) and the decumanus maximus (Bisbe, Ciutat and Regomir streets), approximately in the center of the walled enclosure. From this center, the city followed an orthogonal layout, with square or rectangular blocks, following a grid layout based on two main axes: a horizontal axial order (northwest-southwest) and a vertical one (southeast-northeast), which would mark the future layout of the city, and would be collected by Ildefonso Cerd\u00e1 in his Plan de Eixample of 1859.The Romans were great experts in architecture and civil engineering, and provided the territory with roads, bridges, aqueducts and an urban design with a rational layout and basic services, such as sewerage. The enclosure of Barcino was walled, with a perimeter of 1.5 km, which protected a space of 10.4 ha. The first wall of the city, of simple construction, began to be built in the first century B.C. It had few towers, only in the corners and at the gates of the walled perimeter. However, the first incursions by Franks and Alemanni from the 250s onwards made it necessary to reinforce the walls, which were enlarged in the 4th century. The new wall was built on the foundations of the first, and consisted of a double wall of 2 meters, with a space in the middle filled with stone and mortar. The wall consisted of 74 towers about 18 meters high, most of which were rectangular in base.Of the rest of the urban elements preserved from the Roman period, it is worth mentioning the necropolis, a group of tombs located outside the walled area, in the current Pla\u00e7a de la Vila de Madrid: it has more than 70 tombs from the second and third centuries, discovered by chance in 1954. There are also remains of two aqueducts that carried water to the city, one of them from the Collserola mountain range, to the northwest, and another from the north, taking water from the Bes\u00f3s river; both joined in front of the decuman gate of the city \u2014currently the Pla\u00e7a Nova\u2014.After the fall of the Roman Empire and until the formation of the Catalan counties, there were several conquests and the passage of successive civilizations, from the Visigoths and Arabs to a period of integration into the Carolingian Empire. This period was marked by the reuse of the Roman city and the use of its urban structure, which did not undergo significant changes. A noteworthy aspect of this period is its consideration as a military stronghold, which will lead it to acquire hegemony over other surrounding cities and become the capital of its territory. The colonization of the surrounding countryside also began at this time, within a system of feudal structure, as well as a certain suburbanization began, with the appearance of the first suburbs. Middle Ages. At this time Barcelona was constituted as a county and later became part of the Crown of Aragon and the political and economic center of the Principality of Catalonia, becoming an important maritime and commercial axis of the Mediterranean Sea. The city grew from the primitive urban core \u2014what is now the Gothic Quarter\u2014 and, in the 14th century, the Raval district emerged. Barcelona had about 25,000 inhabitants at that time.Medieval Barcelona arose from the reconstruction of the city after its near destruction by Almanzor in 985, starting again as the main nucleus of the structure and the wall from Roman times. The city underwent numerous changes as a center of political and religious power, a center of trade and craft production, and as the nexus of a new and complex network of social and institutional relations. Thus, the city acquired an autonomy of its own, a singularity within the surrounding territory, becoming the center of a hinterland that would mark the organization of the modern city.The progressive increase in the size of the city, and its increasing urban, social and economic complexity, led to the creation of a specific system of government for the administration of the city, the Council of One Hundred (1265). This entity operated in a field of action that went from Montcada to Molins de Rei, and from Castelldefels to Montgat. Among other things, it was responsible for the supply of food and water, the maintenance of roads, the census of the population and territorial demarcation. It also established the first urban building patterns, known as Consuetuds de Santacilia and promulgated by James I.. During medieval times Barcelona had a Jewish quarter, the Call, located between the current streets of Ferran, Banys Nous, Palla and Bisbe. Founded in 692, it survived until its destruction in 1391 in a xenophobic assault. It was separated from the rest of the city by a wall, and had two synagogues (Mayor, now a museum, and Menor, now the parish church of Sant Jaume), baths, schools and hospitals.Outside the city walls, the plain of Barcelona was devoted to agriculture, especially dedicated to supplying the city: it was known as the hort i vinyet de Barcelona (\"orchard and vineyard\"), which produced fruit, vegetables and wine, in an area between the streams of Horta and Sants, and between the Collserola mountain range, Puig Aguilar and Coll de Codines to the sea. This agricultural development was consolidated with the construction, in the middle of the 10th century \u2014and probably by Count Mir\u00f3\u2014 of two canals that directed the waters of the Llobregat and Bes\u00f2s rivers to the vicinity of the city: the Bes\u00f2s canal was known as Rec Comtal or Regomir, and was parallel to the Strata Francisca, a road that was a variant of the ancient Roman Via Augusta, and was built by the Franks to better bring the city closer to the center of the Carolingian Empire.Once the danger of Muslim incursions was over, the first settlements outside the city walls were established. Various population centers (vila nova) were created, generally around churches and monasteries: this was the case around the church of Santa Maria del Mar, where a neighborhood of port character was created; likewise around the church of Sant Cugat del Rec , of an agrarian character; the neighborhood of Sant Pere around Sant Pere de les Puelles; the neighborhood of El Pi arose around the church of Santa Maria del Pi; that of Santa Anna next to the church of the same name; the neighborhood of Arcs settled around the Portal del Bisbe; and the Mercadal, around the market of Portal Major. The Raval neighborhood (Catalan for \"suburb\"), initially a suburb populated by orchards and some religious buildings, such as the monastery of Sant Pau del Camp (914), the church of Sant Antoni Abat (1157), the convent of the Carmelites Cal\u00e7ats (1292), the priory of Nazareth (1342) or the monastery of Montalegre (1362), was also formed little by little.. The creation of these new neighborhoods made it necessary to extend the walled perimeter, so in 1260 a new wall was built from Sant Pere de les Puelles to the Drassanes, facing the sea. The new section was 5100 m long and covered an area of 1.5 km\u00b2. The enclosure had eighty towers and eight new gates, among which were several enclaves of relevance today, such as the Portal de l'\u00c0ngel, the Portaferrissa or La Boqueria. A network of fortifications was also built in the urban periphery for the defense of the city, such as the castle of the Port, in Montju\u00efc; those of Martorell and Castellv\u00ed de Rosanes, at the entrance of the Llobregat river; those of Erampruny\u00e0 (Gav\u00e0) and Castelldefels in the delta of the same river; and that of Montcada at the entrance of the Bes\u00f2s river.The medieval urban fabric was marked by different areas of influence, from the aristocracy and institutional power, through the bishopric and religious orders, to the guilds and the various trade associations. The network of streets was irregular, and the squares were mere widenings of the streets, or plots of land derived from the demolition of a house, which were usually used to store wheat, wool or coal. The houses were usually of the \"artisan type\", with a first floor for the workshop and one or two floors for living, generally measuring 4 m wide and 10\u201312 m deep, sometimes with a small vegetable garden at the back. The larger buildings were either churches or palaces, along with some institutional buildings, such as the Casa de la Ciutat, seat of the Consell de Cent \u2014later City Hall\u2014 or the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya, seat of the homonymous political institution of the Principality, as well as a hospital \u2014such as the Santa Creu\u2014 or buildings such as the Llotja or the Drassanes.. In 1209, one of the first private urban planning operations in the city took place, the opening of Montcada street, thanks to the concession made by Peter II to Guillem Ramon de Montcada; a wide, straight street was laid out, running from the B\u00f2ria to the sea, and was occupied by large stately residences. Another of the few urban planning processes of this period was the opening of the Pla\u00e7a Nova, next to the Episcopal Palace and near the cathedral of Barcelona, carried out in 1355 thanks to the demolition of several houses and the reuse of the Bishop's orchard.Between the 14th and 15th centuries, the continuous urban growth led to a new extension of the walled enclosure, with the construction of the Raval wall, in the western part of the city, which covered an area of 218 ha, with a perimeter of 6 km. The new urban enclosure started at the Drassanes, following the current ring roads of Sant Pau, Sant Antoni, Universitat and Sant Pere, going down the current Passeig de Llu\u00eds Companys to the monastery of Santa Clara \u2014in the current Citadel Park\u2014, and to the sea, along the current Avinguda Marqu\u00e8s del l'Argentera. Currently only the Portal de Santa Madrona, in the Drassanes, is still preserved.With the extension of the wall, a long avenue known as La Rambla, occupied mainly by religious institutions, was left within the city walls. It was then proceeded to its urbanization, which was completed in 1444. In its day it was the widest space in the city, dedicated to strolling, leisure or the installation of occasional markets. Deeply reformed between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, today it is one of the most emblematic places of the city.Finally, it is worth noting that during the Middle Ages an extensive network of roads emerged in the plain of Barcelona that connected the city with the various suburbs and villages in the vicinity, as well as other points of interest: farmhouses (Melina tower road), mills (Verneda road), quarries (Creu dels Molers road), bleaching meadows (Teulat road), churches or chapels (Sant Ll\u00e0tzer road), fountains (Font dels Ocellets road), etc. Early Modern Age. In this period Barcelona and Catalonia became part of the Hispanic Monarchy, which arose from the dynastic union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon. It was a time of alternation between periods of prosperity and economic crisis, especially due to plague epidemics in the sixteenth century and social and military conflicts such as the Reapers' War and the War of Succession between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, although in the latter century the economy rebounded thanks to the opening of trade with America and the beginning of the textile industry. The city was still confined within its walls \u2014the only expansion was on the beach, in the neighborhood of La Barceloneta\u2014 despite the fact that by the end of the period it had almost 100,000 inhabitants.This period was not one of excessive urban reforms, since the loss of Barcelona's capital status meant that large-scale projects were not carried out. In the first half of the 16th century, the sea wall was built, where the bastions of Llevant, Torre Nova, Sant Ramon and Migdia were placed. Otherwise, the main urban reform was in the area around the cathedral, where the Pla\u00e7a de la Seu was opened, in front of the main portal of the cathedral (1546), as well as the Pla\u00e7a de San Iu, with a space cut out of the Grand Royal Palace.. During the 15th and 16th centuries, an artificial port was built to finally meet the needs of the important mercantile center that was Barcelona: paradoxically, during the period of splendor of Catalan trade in the Mediterranean, Barcelona did not have a port prepared for the port volume that was common in the city. The old port at the foot of Montju\u00efc had been abandoned, and the city had only the beach to receive passengers and goods. Deep-draught ships had to unload by means of boats and rope lads (bastaixos). Finally, in 1438, royal permission was obtained to build a port: first, a ship loaded with stones was sunk to serve as a base for the wall that connected the beach to the island of Maians; the wall was reinforced in 1477 and lengthened in the form of a breakwater in 1484. In the mid-16th century, the port was enlarged in response to the campaign launched by Charles I against Tunisia. At the end of the century, the quay had a length of 180 m by 12 m wide.With the construction of the port, the seafront between Pla de Palau and La Rambla was embanked, thus urbanizing the Passeig del Mar, now Passeig de Colom. At this time the water supply and sewage system was also improved, and for its maintenance the figure of the mestre de les fonts (\"master of the fountains\") was instituted, in charge of the care of mines, fountains and gutters.In the 17th century, the city wall was extended again with the construction of five new gates (Sant Sever, Tallers, Sant Antoni, Sant Pau and Santa Madrona, the latter a reconstruction of the 14th century one). Streets were also paved, sewers were installed, drinking water fountains were built and improvement works were carried out in the port.. In the eighteenth century the Principality of Catalonia and Barcelona itself saw much of its autonomy truncated with the victory of Philip V in the War of Succession: the Nueva Planta Decree (1716) eliminated the Generalitat, the Corts and the Consell de Cent, which were replaced by a military government, and the municipal jurisdiction was reduced to the city, losing the area of influence that the Consell de Cent had in the metropolitan area. In this period there was a notable demographic increase, and the economy was progressively industrialized, until it led to the so-called Industrial Revolution.. The arrival of the Bourbons generated a series of military engineering works, such as the castle of Montju\u00efc and the fortress of the Citadel. For the construction of the Citadel (1715-1751), 1200 houses in the Ribera neighborhood were demolished, leaving 4500 people homeless and without compensation, and the Rec Comtal was diverted. The work of Jorge Pr\u00f3spero de Verboom, it was a pentagonal walled bastion, with a protective moat and an esplanade of 120 m between the walls and the surrounding buildings. Demolished in the Revolution of 1868, on its perimeter was installed the park of the Citadel.There were also two new military roads that crossed the plain of Barcelona: the Matar\u00f3 road \u2014coincident with the current Pere IV street\u2014 and the Creu Coberta road, which connected with the Madrid road \u2014current streets of Hostafrancs and Sants\u2014.In 1753, the construction of the neighborhood of La Barceloneta began at the initiative of the Marquis of La Mina. Located on a small peninsula of land reclaimed from the sea, its layout was designed by the engineer Pedro Mart\u00edn Cerme\u00f1o, with a grid of orthogonal streets and blocks of houses of elongated plan, which is a clear example of academic baroque urbanism. In this neighborhood was located in 1772 the Clock Tower, the first lighthouse of the city; it was followed by the Llobregat in 1845 and Montju\u00efc in 1925.In 1771, the Edicto de obreria was approved, a municipal ordinance aimed at controlling private works in the city, which involved the regulation of the alignment of houses according to the layout of the streets, as well as the supervision of aspects such as the paving of the streets, the sewage system, the numbering of houses, etc. This edict established for the first time the obligation to request a building permit, accompanied by a report and the payment of the respective fees. Likewise, in 1797 a height limit was established for all buildings. During this century there was a change in the typology of private buildings, which went from the \"artisan house\" of the medieval type to the \"multi-family house\" with a collective staircase, which definitively separated work from residence.. Between 1776 and 1778 the redevelopment of La Rambla was carried out, an ancient torrent that during the Middle Ages marked the western boundary of the city, which had been populated since the 16th century, mainly by theaters and convents. At this time the inner wall was demolished, the buildings were realigned and a new landscaped promenade, in the style of the French boulevard, was designed. The paseos of Sant Joan and Gr\u00e0cia were also planned, although they were not built until the turn of the century for the former and 1820-1827 for the latter. Likewise, the street of the Count of the Assault \u2014currently New Street of La Rambla\u2014 (1778-1789) was laid out, named after Francisco Gonz\u00e1lez de Bassecourt, captain general of Catalonia, who had the initiative to create the street. In 1797 the Paseo Nuevo or Paseo de la Explanada was also created, located next to the military Citadel, a wide avenue lined with poplars and elms and decorated with ornamental fountains, which for a time was the main green space of the city, but disappeared in the urbanization works of the park of the Citadel.During the eighteenth century, the Born and Boqueria markets were established as the only two general supply markets, and in 1752 aspects such as weights and measures for the marketing of food products, in addition to coal, were regulated. 19th Century. In this period there was a great economic revitalization, linked primarily to the textile industry, which in turn led to a Catalan cultural renaissance. Between 1854 and 1859, the city walls were demolished, allowing the city to expand, under a project called the Eixample, drawn up by Ildefons Cerd\u00e0 in 1859. After the revolution of 1868, the Citadel was also demolished and the land transformed into a public park. The population grew, especially thanks to immigration from the rest of Spain, reaching 400,000 inhabitants by the end of the century.Although chintz printing was well established in Barcelona since the 18th century, the industrial era proper began with the founding in 1832 of the Bonaplata Factory, founded by Josep Bonaplata. In 1849 the complex La Espa\u00f1a Industrial, owned by the Muntadas brothers, was opened in Sants. The textile industry grew steadily until a crisis in 1861, caused by the shortage of cotton due to the American Civil War. The metallurgical industry was also gaining importance, boosted by the creation of the railroad and steam navigation. In 1836 the Nueva Vulcano foundry opened in La Barceloneta and, in 1841, La Barcelonesa began, one of the predecessors of La Maquinista Terrestre y Mar\u00edtima (1855), one of the most important factories in the history of Barcelona.Industrialization brought about important changes in the urban planning of the city, due to the new needs of the economic sectors of the capitalist system, which required a strong concentration of labor and auxiliary services. Barcelona thus underwent an important leap to modernity, characterized by three factors: the population migration from the countryside to the city, the link between industrial and urban developments, and a better articulation of the territory through a wide network of roads and railroads, which will lead Barcelona to become a colonizing metropolis of its territorial environment.. During this century, the municipal ordinances that began with the Edicto de obrer\u00eda (Workmen's Edict) were consolidated: in 1814, the Preg\u00f3n de polic\u00eda urbana (Proclamation of Urban Police) established in 84 articles all the provisions on civil building, maintenance of public spaces and various regulations on security and public order. In 1839, the Bando general de buen gobierno (General Good Governance Charter) renewed and expanded these provisions and, among other things, regulated the relationship between the width of streets and the height of buildings. On the other hand, the law of January 8, 1845 established the City Council's own attributions in various aspects such as urban planning, regulating the sanitary conditions of public spaces, as well as the conditioning of streets, squares and markets. In 1856 the first Ordenanzas Municipales (Municipal Ordinances) were approved, which brought together and expanded previous provisions, within an urban code that contemplated for the first time all aspects of civic and institutional relations in the city. For the first time, building permits were required to include an interior layout plan. These ordinances soon became obsolete due to the new Eixample plan, until in 1891 new ones were drawn up that took into account the new specificities of the expansion and new links in the city. Among other things, the area of occupation of the plots was increased from 50% \u2014established in the Cerd\u00e0 Plan of 1859\u2014 to 70%.Among the main urban planning actions of these years were the opening of Calle de Fernando (Ferran) in 1827, between La Rambla and the Plaza de San Jaime (Sant Jaume), with a later continuation towards the Borne with the streets of Jaime I (Jaume I) (1849\u201353) and Princesa (1853). In 1833 the expansion of the Pla de Palau began, which was then the nerve center of the city, with the presence of the Royal Palace, the Llotja and the Aduana. The square was enlarged and the Portal de Mar was built (1844-1848), a monumental gateway to Barceloneta from the old quarter, the work of Josep Massan\u00e8s, which was demolished in 1859 along with the city walls. Massan\u00e8s was also the author of a widening plan in 1838 that was never completed, which included the triangle between Canaletes, Pla\u00e7a de la Universitat and Pla\u00e7a Urquinaona, and which already sketched what would become Pla\u00e7a de Catalunya, located in the center of the triangle.. Another factor that favored the urban planning of these years was the confiscation of 1836, which left numerous plots of land that were built on or converted into public spaces, such as La Boqueria and Santa Catalina markets, the Gran Teatro del Liceo (Liceu) and two squares designed by Francesc Daniel Molina: the Pla\u00e7a Reial and the Pla\u00e7a del Duc de Medinaceli.Similarly, the new sanitary provisions enacted at this time led to the disappearance of numerous parish cemeteries, whose plots were developed as new public squares: thus, squares such as Santa Maria, del Pi, Sant Josep Oriol, Sant Felip Neri, Sant Just, Sant Pere and San Jaime (Sant Jaume) came into being. The latter became the political heart of the city, since the Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat de Catalunya were located there. On the other hand, the disappearance of the parish cemeteries led to the creation of a new cemetery located outside the city, the cemetery of the East or Pueblo Nuevo (Poblenou), based on a project of 1773 but which was built mainly between 1813 and 1819. It was followed in 1883 by the Southwest or Montjuic cemetery, while already in the 20th century, the North or Collserola cemetery was built (1969).In 1842, one of the clearest factors of modernity derived from new scientific advances, the gas lighting, began. The first illuminated streets were La Rambla, Fernando Street and the Plaza de San Jaime, specifically with gas produced by dry distillation of black coal (town gas). That year the Sociedad Catalana para el Alumbrado por Gas (Catalan Society for Gas Lighting) was created, renamed in 1912 as Catalana de Gas y Electricidad. In 1856, gas was successfully applied to domestic stoves and heaters.. One of the major factors in the dynamization of the city as the capital of a large metropolitan area was the arrival of the railroad: in 1848, the first railroad line in peninsular Spain left from Barcelona, connecting Barcelona with the town of Matar\u00f3. The stations of Francia (1854), Sants (1854) and Norte (1862) were then created. The Catalan capital became the center of a railway network in the shape of an 8 \u2014the so-called \"Catalan eight\"\u2014 formed by two rings that intersected in the city. In the 1880s there were already links with France, Madrid, Zaragoza and Valencia, in addition to the rest of the Catalan provincial capitals. Two companies operated at that time: Ferrocarril del Norte and MZA (Madrid-Zaragoza-Alicante), integrated in 1941 in RENFE.The city's first fire and police services also appeared at this time. In 1843 the Guardia Urbana de Barcelona was created, in charge of the defense of public safety; in 1938 they also assumed control of traffic and urban circulation. On the other hand, in 1849 the Sociedad de Socorro Mutuo contra Incendios (Mutual Fire Aid Society) emerged, a private company that in 1865 was replaced by the Sociedad de Extinci\u00f3n de Incendios y Salvamento de Barcelona (Barcelona 's Fire Extinguishing and Rescue Companyy), he first public fire department managed by the City Council. Its first chief was the architect Antoni Rovira i Trias, and its first firehouse was the Casa de Comunes Dep\u00f3sitos (House of Common Warehousess) which was followed by multiple firehouses throughout the city. In 1908, animal-drawn vehicles were replaced by motor vehicles, and in 1913 the figure of the firefighter, until then casual, was professionalized.. In the middle of the century, the Diputation of Barcelona took charge of establishing new road layouts in the Barcelona plain: the Sarri\u00e0 road (now Sarri\u00e0 Avenue), designed by Ildefons Cerd\u00e0 and built between 1850 and 1853; the road from Sants to Les Corts (1865-1867); and the road from Sagrera to Horta (1871), now Garcilaso Street. In these years, the port, increasingly important as a source of raw materials \u2014especially cotton and coal\u2014, was improved with the construction of a new wharf and the dredging of the port by the engineer Jos\u00e9 Rafo, who presented his project in 1859.On the other hand, in 1855 the telegraph service began, with a network of radial character centered in Madrid, which from 1920 was extended peripherally with Valencia, Seville and A Coru\u00f1a. Controlled by the State, the service was incorporated into the postal service, creating the Direcci\u00f3n General de Correos y Tel\u00e9grafos (General Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs).It should also be noted that the first public parks appeared in the nineteenth century, as the increase in urban environments due to the phenomenon of the Industrial Revolution, often in conditions of environmental degradation, made it advisable to create large urban parks and gardens, which were paid for by the public authorities, thus giving rise to public gardening \u2014until then preferably private\u2014 and landscape architecture. The first public garden in Barcelona was created in 1816: the General's Garden, an initiative of Captain General Francisco Javier Casta\u00f1os; it was located between the present Marqu\u00e9s de la Argentera avenue and the Citadel, in front of where today is the station of Francia, and had an area of 0.4 ha, until it disappeared in 1877 during the development of the park of the Citadel. At this time several gardens were installed on Passeig de Gr\u00e0cia: in 1848 the T\u00edvoli Gardens were created, between Valencia and Consell de Cent streets; and in 1853 the so-called Champs Elys\u00e9es, with a garden, a lake with boats, a theater and an amusement park with roller coasters, were located between Aragon and Roussillon streets. These gardens disappeared a few years later with the urbanization of Passeig de Gr\u00e0cia. Expansion of Barcelona (Eixample). In the middle of the century a transcendental event took place that completely changed the physiognomy of the city; the demolition of the walls. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the population grew steadily (from 34,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the eighteenth century to 160,000 in the mid-nineteenth century), which led to an alarming increase in population density (850 inhabitants per hectare), endangering the health of the citizens. However, due to its status as a stronghold, the central government opposed the demolition of the walls. A strong popular outcry began, led by Pedro Felipe Monlau, who in 1841 published the memoir \u00a1Abajo las murallas! (Down with the walls!) in which he defended their destruction to prevent diseases and epidemics. Finally, in 1854, permission was granted for their demolition, which gave the way out for the territorial expansion of the city.In 1859 the City Council appointed a commission to promote a competition for urban expansion projects, which was won by Antoni Rovira i Trias; however, the Ministry of Development intervened and imposed the project of Ildefons Cerd\u00e0, author of a topographic plan of the Barcelona plain and a demographic and urbanistic study of the city (1855). The Cerd\u00e0 Plan (Plan de los alrededores de la ciudad de Barcelona y del proyecto para su mejora y ampliaci\u00f3n, 1859) instituted an orthogonal layout between Montjuic and the Bes\u00f2s, with a system of straight northwest-southeast oriented streets, 20 meters wide, cut by other southwest-northeast oriented streets parallel to the coast and the Collserola mountain range. Cerd\u00e0 had planned to build on only two sides and leave the other spaces for gardens, although this point was not fulfilled and finally practically all the buildable land was used; the buildings were designed with an octagonal floor plan characteristic of the Eixample, with chamfers that favored circulation. The plan called for the construction of several main avenues: Diagonal, Meridiana, Paral\u00b7lel, Gran Via and Passeig de Sant Joan, as well as several large squares at their intersections: Tetuan, Gl\u00f2ries, Espanya, Verdaguer, Letamendi and Universitat. It also foresaw the opening of three large avenues in the old part of the city: two that would connect the Eixample with the coast (Muntaner and Pau Claris) and another perpendicular one that would connect the Citadel with Montjuic (avenida de la Catedral). It also contemplated a series of new ring roads that would circumvent the old city, in the place left by the walls: the ring roads of San Pablo, San Antonio, Universitat and Sant Pere.. Cerd\u00e1's project was quite innovative for the time, especially with regard to the delimitation of green spaces and service areas, taking into account both functional, recreational and welfare aspects. The buildings were to have a height of 16 meters (first floor and four floors), and a depth of 10 to 20 meters. The distribution of the Eixample was to be in sectors of 20 x 20 blocks, divided into districts of 10 x 10 and neighborhoods of 5 x 5. Each neighborhood was to have a church, a civic center, a school, a day care center, a nursing home and other welfare centers, while each district was to have a market and each sector a park. It also had industrial and administrative facilities, and in the suburbs there was a slaughterhouse, a cemetery and three hospitals. However, most of these provisions did not come to fruition, due to the opposition of the City Council, annoyed by the imposition of Cerd\u00e0's plan as opposed to Rovira's, which had been approved in the competition, and also due to real estate speculation, which led to building the blocks on all sides and not only on the two sides planned by Cerd\u00e1.Cerd\u00e1 accompanied his project with several memoirs and statistical studies in which he showed his urbanistic theory, developed in three main points: hygienism, based on his Monograf\u00eda estad\u00edstica de la clase obrera (Statistical monograph of the working class), where he criticizes the living conditions within the walled city in force until then \u2014life expectancy was 38.3 years for the rich and 19.7 for the poor\u2014, against which he proposes improvements in urban orientation according to factors such as climatology, as well as in the constructive elements; circulation, with a view to making public roads compatible between pedestrians and vehicular traffic, which led him to regulate the distribution of streets and to establish chamfers on all sides of the blocks to facilitate crossings; and the multipurpose design, with an urban layout that would be extrapolated both to spaces to be built and to those already existing, integrating the notions of \"widening\" and \"reform\", and that would give a hygienic and functional city, although this part of his project would not be carried out.It must be taken into account that in many cases the Cerd\u00e0 plot was superimposed on suburban layouts already existing or under development, in addition to the fact that the towns bordering the city of Barcelona, which would be added in successive phases at the turn of the nineteenth century, had their own urban development projects. Among these layouts we must take into account the highways and rural roads, or the easements imposed by railroads, canals, irrigation ditches, torrents and other land features.. A tangential aspect of the new layout was the question of toponymy, since the new urban grid designed by Cerd\u00e1 included a series of new streets for which there was no tradition when it came to naming them. The naming of the new streets was entrusted to the writer V\u00edctor Balaguer, who was inspired by the history of Catalonia: Thus, many streets are named after territories linked to the Crown of Aragon, such as Valencia, Mallorca, Aragon, Provence, Roussillon, Naples, Corsica, Sicily or Sardinia; with institutions such as the Catalan Courts, the Generalitat or the Consell de Cent; with characters such as Jaime Balmes, Enrique Granados, Buenaventura Carlos Aribau, Ram\u00f3n Muntaner, Rafael Casanova, Pau Claris, Roger de Flor, Antoni de Villarroel, Roger de Lauria, Ausi\u00e0s March or the Count of Urgel; or battles and historical events such as Bail\u00e9n, Lepanto, El Bruch or Caspe.Projects of Expansion (Eixample) Interior renovations. The Cerd\u00e0 Plan was developed mainly outside the city walls, due to real estate speculation, leaving aside the necessary improvements for the development of the old part of Barcelona. The need for a project of \"interior renovations\" was then raised, with the aim of modernizing the old core of the expanding city. One of the first was that of Miquel Garriga i Roca, author of a joint plan of alignments (1862), the first exhaustive plan of the city, at 1/250 scale. Garriga's project foresaw the realignment of streets as the basic method of a broad renovation of the city's interior, but the difficulty of its execution and the absence of expropriation mechanisms paralyzed this first project.. A more elaborate project was carried out by \u00c0ngel Baixeras in 1878, who presented an expropriation bill to the Senate, which was approved in 1879. Baixeras' project envisaged a thorough remodeling of the old city, and its most outstanding aspect was the opening of three major thoroughfares \u2014initially called A, B and C\u2014 to make the old city center more walkable, following Cerd\u00e0's old project. However, the project was not approved until 1895, and it still had to wait until 1908 for its execution, partially realized, since only the A road, renamed V\u00eda Laietana, was built.It is also worth mentioning the introduction of the tramway for urban transport. In 1860 an omnibus line had been opened along La Rambla, but the slowness of the carriages made this means of transport not very viable. In 1872, rails were laid for its traction, which lightened the transport, with imperial model cars \u2014of English origin\u2014, pulled by two or four horses. The line was extended from the port (Drassanes) to the village of Gracia, and later from the Drassanes to La Barceloneta. One of the first lines to operate was the English Barcelona Tramways Company Limited. In 1899 the streetcars were electrified.. During these years, street furniture also grew, especially since the appointment in 1871 of Antoni Rovira i Trias as head of Buildings and Ornamentation of the City Council, as well as his successor, Pere Falqu\u00e9s, who made a special effort to combine aesthetics and functionality for this type of urban adornments. The increase of elements such as lampposts, fountains, benches, kiosks, railings, planters, mailboxes and other public services was favored by the rise of the iron industry, which allowed their mass production and resulted in greater strength and durability.. In the 1880s the installation of electric lighting began, which gradually replaced the gas lighting on public roads. In 1882 the first street lamps were placed in the Pla\u00e7a de Sant Jaume, and between 1887 and 1888 La Rambla and Passeig de Colom were electrified. However, the generalization of electric light did not take place until the beginning of the 20th century, with the invention of the light bulb, and it was not completed until 1929.Another service that emerged at the end of the century was the telephone. The first telephone communication in the whole peninsula took place in Barcelona, in 1877, between the Montjuic castle and the fortress of the Citadel \u2014in the process of dismantling but still housing a garrison\u2014. That same year the first interurban transmission between Barcelona and Girona was carried out by the company Dalmau i Fills, pioneer in the installation of lines in Barcelona. In 1884 the state monopoly of the service was established, but two years later the company Sociedad General de Tel\u00e9fonos de Barcelona (General Telephone Society of Barcelona) was authorized to operate it, which was later absorbed by the Compa\u00f1\u00eda Peninsular de Tel\u00e9fonos (Peninsular Telephone Company). In 1925 the service was nationalized by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, and the Compa\u00f1\u00eda Telef\u00f3nica Nacional de Espa\u00f1a (National Telephone Company of Spain) was created. In 1897 there were 2479 telephones in the city, a figure that grew progressively: in 1917 there were about 10 .00, in 1930 26 .00, in 1960 200 .00, in 1985 750 .00 and in 2000 there were 850 .00 telephones.It should also be noted that in the last third of the century numerous supply markets were built, many of them made of iron, a fashionable element in the architecture of the time. The markets of Born (1872-1876), Sant Antoni (1872-1884), Hostafrancs (1881), La Barceloneta (1884), Concepci\u00f3n (1887-1888), Llibertat (1888-1893), Clot (1884-1889), Uni\u00f3 (1889), Gr\u00e0cia (1892) and Sants (1898-1913) were built in this way. 1888 Universal Exposition. At the end of the century, an event was held that had a great economic, social, urban, artistic and cultural impact on the city: the Universal Exposition of 1888. It took place between April 8 and December 9, 1888, and was held in the park of the Citadel, a land formerly belonging to the Army and won for the city in 1868. The incentive of the fair events led to the improvement of the infrastructure of the entire city, which took a huge leap towards modernization and development.The remodeling project of the Citadel Park was commissioned to Josep Fontser\u00e8 in 1872, who designed extensive gardens for the recreation of the citizens, and together with the green area he planned a central square and a ring road, as well as a monumental fountain and various ornamental elements, two lakes and a wooded area, as well as various auxiliary buildings and infrastructures, such as the Born market, a water reservoir \u2014currently the library of the Pompeu Fabra University\u2014, a slaughterhouse, an iron bridge over the railroad lines and several service sheds. He also designed the urbanization of the new sector of the Born, composed of a hundred plots of land, which would present a common stylistic stamp, although it was finally only partially realized.In addition to the Citadel, the Sal\u00f3n de San Juan (now Passeig de Llu\u00eds Companys), a long avenue 50 meters wide that served as the entrance to the Exposition, at the beginning of which was located the Arc de Triomf, designed by Josep Vilaseca, was remodeled. This promenade featured wrought iron balustrades, pavement mosaics and large lampposts, all designed by Pere Falqu\u00e9s. Most of the buildings and pavilions built for the Exposition disappeared after its completion, although the Castle of the Three Dragons and the Martorell Museum (both integral parts of the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona), the Orangery and the Umbraculum survived, while part of the park grounds were later occupied by the Barcelona Zoo.. Numerous works and improvements were carried out throughout the city for the event: the urbanization of the entire seafront of the city was completed, between the Citadel Park and the Rambles, through the remodeling of the Passeig de Colom and a new pier, the Fusta; the urbanization of the Pla\u00e7a de Catalunya began, a process that would culminate in 1929 thanks to another Exposition, the International Exhibition of Electrical Industries; Riera d'en Malla was covered, giving rise to the Rambla de Catalunya; Avenue of Paral\u00b7lel was begun; and Passeig de Sant Joan was extended towards Gr\u00e0cia and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes towards the west. The Golondrinas, pleasure boats that left in front of the statue of Columbus and offered a promenade to visitors, were also installed and still remain.. From the end of the century it is worth mentioning Pere Garcia F\u00e0ria's project to regulate the city's sewage system (Proyecto de saneamiento del subsuelo de Barcelona: alcantarillado, drenaje, residuos urbanos, 1891). It was a project that placed special emphasis on hygienism, with innovative criteria that are still in force today: it established a visitable sewerage network, 80 cm wide by 170 cm high, maintained by a municipal brigade that still performs its functions. It is a unitary system for rainwater and wastewater, which works mainly by gravity \u2014except for a few small pumping stations\u2014 making it necessary to have large collectors in the lower part of the city. Thanks to this project, the sewerage network was extended in a few years from 31.2 km to 212 km. Around this time, the streets also began to be urbanized with tiled sidewalks and cobblestone roadways, replaced in the 1960s by asphalt.It should also be noted that during the nineteenth century the increase in population and new industrial needs led to an increase in water consumption, which required a larger water collection and distribution network. Thus, at the end of the century a new pipeline was built from Dosrius (Maresme), with a 17 km gallery and a 37 km aqueduct that brought water to the city. The first marketing companies appeared then, the main one of which was the Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona (AGBAR), created in 1882.On the other hand, the increase in population between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries led to the creation of new hospitals to serve the population of the new districts of the city: the Hospital Cl\u00ednico y Provincial (1895-1906) and the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (1902-1930), a monumental modernist-style complex designed by Llu\u00eds Dom\u00e8nech i Montaner. Later, the hospitals of Esperan\u00e7a (1924), the Red Cross (1924), the Military (1924) and the Hospital del Mar (1931) were created, while in 1955 the Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, one of the main health referents of Catalonia, was inaugurated.During these years the Eixample was progressively urbanized, first thanks to private initiative and the so-called Sociedades de Fomento (Development societies), and from 1892 with the appearance of the Comisiones Especiales de Ensanche (Special Commissions for the Eixample) arising from the new Eixample Law of 1892. This law was based on the Law of Forced Expropriation of 1879, and developed a management system with public and private participation. The urbanization process used to have several phases: filling the area, parceling the land, installation of services such as sewerage, running water and lighting, and construction of buildings. Most houses used to be rented: the owner reserved the second floor (planta noble) and rented the others. 20th Century. The 20th century was conditioned by the convulsive political situation, with the end of the monarchy in 1931 and the arrival of the Second Republic, which ended with the Civil War and was replaced by Franco's dictatorship, until the reestablishment of the monarchy and the arrival of democracy. Socially, this century saw the massive arrival of immigration to the city, with the consequent increase in population: if in 1900 there were 530 000 inhabitants, in 1930 they had almost doubled (1 009 000 hab), to reach between 1970 and 1980 the maximum peak (1 754 900) and by the end of the century to 1 500 000 inhabitants.With the turn of the century, a new political scenario opened up, marked by the loss of the colonies in America and Asia and the rise of the Regionalist League, led by politicians such as Francesc Camb\u00f3, Enric Prat de la Riba and the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch, who expressed their desire to place Barcelona on the international front line, at the level of cities such as Paris, New York, Berlin or Vienna. It is the model of the \"Imperial Barcelona\" proposed by Prat de la Riba, or the \"Nova Par\u00eds del Migdia\" (New Paris of the Midday) commented by Puig i Cadafalch. In this sense, projects for the improvement of infrastructures, railroads, transport and equipment, the creation of a free port, the attention to the needs of an increasingly industrialized society, the search for mechanisms to accommodate the increase in population and to satisfy aspects hitherto little attended to, such as education, culture and green spaces, all arise in this sense. Municipal Aggregations and Plan of Connections. The beginning of the century was marked by the geographical expansion of the city: in 1897 Barcelona annexed six neighboring towns, until then independent: Sants, Les Corts, San Gervasio de Cassolas, Gr\u00e0cia, Sant Andreu de Palomar and Sant Mart\u00ed de Proven\u00e7als. Likewise, in 1904, Sant Joan d'Horta was annexed; in 1921, Sarri\u00e0 and Santa Creu d'Olorda (a small piece of land in Collserola segregated from Molins de Rei); in 1924, Collblanc and the Marina de Hospitalet, where the Zona Franca was created; and, in 1943, Bon Pastor and Bar\u00f3 de Viver, segregated from Santa Coloma de Gramenet. The city grew from 15.5 km\u00b2 to 77.8 km\u00b2, and from a population of 383,908 to 559,589.. The annexation of the new municipalities raised the need for a plan to connect the city, which was put out to public tender in 1903 (Concurso Internacional sobre anteproyectos de enlaces de la Zona de Ensanche de Barcelona y los pueblos agregados entre s\u00ed y con el resto del t\u00e9rmino municipal de Sarri\u00e0 y Horta; \"International Competition on preliminary projects to connect to each other the Barcelona Eixample Area and the towns added and with the rest of the municipality of Sarri\u00e0 and Horta\"), in which the French town planner L\u00e9on Jaussely was the winner. The integration of the new aggregated municipalities with Barcelona and between them was sought, with a predominance of the organizational aspects over the expansive ones, in an attempt to reformulate the Cerd\u00e0 Plan, badly seen by the modernist generation. The Jaussely Plan was based on a structural scheme, with a differentiated treatment of the various urban fabrics, which recalls the Beaux-Arts type layouts in vogue in the international environments of the time. His proposal was based mainly on three criteria: a road scheme of main axes (five radial roads and two ring roads), the zoning of activities and the systematization of green spaces. The project envisaged large road infrastructures (boulevards, large squares, promenades, diagonals), parks and gardens, rail links \u2014with underground interior lines\u2014, public and collective buildings at the central points of the road layout, facilities and service areas. The project was only partially realized, and in 1917 it was reformulated with the so-called Romeu-Porcel Plan; however, the innovative nature of its ideas left a deep mark and inspired Barcelona's urban planning for much of the century.. The most important action in these years was the opening of the Via Laietana, which connected the Eixample with the sea, projected with the letter A in the Plan Baixeras of 1878. The works were finally carried out in 1908, with joint financing between the City Council and the Banco Hispano Colonial (Hispanic Colonial Bank), the first concerted operation in Barcelona. The new road was designed with the desire to create an avenue with a uniform appearance, so most of the buildings are of noucentista appearance, with some influence of the Chicago School. Criticism of the works for the opening of this road, which involved numerous demolitions of houses \u2014some buildings of artistic value were moved\u2014, paralyzed the construction of the other two roads planned by Baixeras, although later some punctual interventions were made in these places, according to the projects of Antoni Darder (1918), Joaquim Vilaseca (1932, Plan de Reforma, urbanizaci\u00f3n y enlace entre los puntos singulares del Casco Antiguo; \"Renovation, urbanization and linkage plan between the singular points of the Old Town\") and Soteras-Bordoy (1956, Plan parcial de Ordenaci\u00f3n del Casco Antiguo de Barcelona; \"Partial Plan for the Development of the Old Town of Barcelona\"). . Also in the early years of the century the slopes of Tibidabo were urbanized, with a wide avenue linking the avenue of San Gervasio with the mountain, which was occupied by single-family houses in the style of the English garden cities. For transportation, a tramway was installed on the avenue and a funicular to ascend to the top of the mountain (1901), where the Tibidabo Amusement Park was located. In 1906, the Vallvidrera funicular was also opened.An interesting urbanization project was that of the Can Muntaner estate (1900-1914), at the foot of Mount Carmel, in the neighborhood of La Salut, also designed as a garden city of single-family houses. The promoter was the industrialist Eusebi G\u00fcell, and the architect Antoni Gaud\u00ed was in charge of the layout. The project was unsuccessful, as only two plots were sold, and in 1926 the land was ceded to the City Council and converted into a park, known today as Park G\u00fcell.. During the first years of the century the port was enlarged, with a project elaborated by Julio Vald\u00e9s and carried out between 1905 and 1912: the eastern dock was extended and a counter dock and the inner docks were built. These works gave the port practically its current physiognomy, except for the construction of the south dock and the inner dock in 1965.The turn of the century brought the general electrification of the city, both public and private. In 1911 the company Barcelona Traction Light and Power \u2014better known as La Canadiense\u2014 was founded, which was committed to the use of the hydraulic resources of the Pyrenees, building reservoirs in Tremp (1915) and Camarassa (1920). It also built the F\u00edgols and Sant Adri\u00e0 de Bes\u00f2s thermal power stations. Thanks to electrification, Barcelona began to stand out in sectors such as metallurgy, chemistry and automobiles, consolidating itself as an industrial and commercial center.During the first decade of the century, public urinals called vespasianas were installed, made of metal with a circular body with a capacity for six people, above which rose a hexagonal section for advertising, topped by a little dome. In the 1910s they were removed, and in the future it was established that all urinals had to be underground.[140]. During these years the tramway network was extended, thanks to companies such as Les Tramways de Barcelone Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Anonyme. The expansion of the city with the aggregation of the adjoining municipalities increasingly required a wide and fast transport network, whose progress was favored by the electrification of the streetcars, a fact that also lowered their cost and allowed the service to become more popular: from seven million passengers in 1900 it went to 17 million in 1914.At the beginning of the century the first buses also appeared: in 1906 the first line was created between Pla\u00e7a de Catalunya and Pla\u00e7a de Trilla, in Gr\u00e0cia, operated by the company La Catalana, with five Brilli\u00e9-Schneider cars. The service was suppressed in 1908 due to protests from the tramway companies, for which it was clear competition, but in 1916 some suburban lines appeared, running between Barcelona and Sant Just Desvern, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Hospitalet, Badalona, El Prat, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Gav\u00e0 and Sant Climent de Llobregat. In 1922, city buses were reestablished, in charge of the Compa\u00f1\u00eda General de Autobuses de Barcelona (General Bus Company of Barcelona, CGA), which was later absorbed by Tranv\u00edas de Barcelona, (Tramways of Barcelona) which went on to operate both transports.Also at this time the first taxis appeared: in 1910 the first 21 vehicles were licensed; in 1920 there were already a thousand taxis, with 64 stops throughout the city. In 1928 the green light was incorporated as a \"free\" signal, and in 1931 the color black and yellow was established as the city's distinguishing color.. In the 1920s, urban transport was improved with the construction of the Barcelona Metro. Work began in 1920 with the installation of two lines: line 3 (Lesseps-Liceo), inaugurated in 1924, and line 1 (Catalu\u00f1a-Bordeta), put into service in 1926. The network was progressively expanded, and today Barcelona has 12 lines. Initially it was operated by three companies: Gran Metropolitano de Barcelona (L3), Metropolitano Transversal (L1) and Ferrocarril de Sarri\u00e0 a Barcelona (now Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya); the first two merged in 1957 into the company Ferrocarril Metropolitano de Barcelona, which together with the bus company Transportes de Barcelona formed in 1979 the company Transportes Metropolitanos de Barcelona (TMB).It should also be noted that during the first decades of the century, public schooling was greatly boosted, thanks above all to the initiative of the City Council, the Provincial Deputation and the Commonwealth of Catalonia. In 1922, the City Council created the Patronat Escolar, which promoted secular, bilingual education and pedagogical renovation, and promoted an ambitious plan of school buildings, including those built in noucentista style by Josep Goday (Ramon Llull, Collaso i Gil, Llu\u00eds Vives, Mil\u00e0 i Fontanals, Baixeras and Pere Vila schools). After the Civil War, public education was taken over by the central government, until the arrival of democracy, when the competences were transferred to the Generalitat.In these years, increasing importance was also given to the question of green spaces, which was raised in 1926 by Nicolau Maria Rubi\u00f3 i Tudur\u00ed, director of the Parks and Gardens Service of Barcelona: with the text El problema de los espacios libres (The problem of open spaces), presented at the XI Congreso Nacional de Arquitectos (XI National Congress of Architects), he proposed the placement of a series of green spaces in the form of concentric semicircles between the Bes\u00f2s and Llobregat rivers, all along the Collserola mountain range, with small enclaves in the inner part of the city in the style of the London squares. He proposed four levels for the city: interior parks, among which would be the Citadel and Montju\u00efc, as well as three smaller ones (Letamendi, Sagrada Fam\u00edlia and Gl\u00f2ries); suburban parks, among which would be the Hippodrome, Tur\u00f3 Park, Tur\u00f3 Gil, Font del Rac\u00f3, Vallcarca, Guinard\u00f3 and Park G\u00fcell; exterior parks (Llobregat, Pedralbes, Vallvidrera, Tibidabo, Sant Medir, Horta and Bes\u00f2s); and the Collserola nature reserve. Rubi\u00f3's project was not executed, except in small portions, but little by little the city was gaining green land: from 1910 to 1924 it went from 72 ha to 450 ha. 1929 International Exposition. In 1929 the International Exposition was held in Montju\u00efc. For this event the entire area of the Pla\u00e7a dEspanya, the avenue of Queen Maria Christina and the mountain of Montju\u00efc was urbanized, and the pavilions that currently house the Barcelona Fair were built. One of the main architects of the project was Josep Puig i Cadafalch, and it was one of the main test beds of noucentisme, the successor style to modernisme. The Exposition took place from May 19, 1929 to January 15, 1930, over an area of 116 ha, and cost 180 million pesetas.On the occasion of the Exposition, a large part of the Montjuic mountain was landscaped, with a project by Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier and Nicolau Maria Rubi\u00f3 i Tudur\u00ed, who created an ensemble of marked Mediterranean character and classicist taste: the Laribal, Miramar and Greek Theater gardens were thus created.As in 1888, the 1929 Exposition had a great impact on the city's urban development, not only in the area of Montju\u00efc, but also throughout the city: the squares of Tetuan, Urquinaona and Letamendi were landscaped; the Marina bridge was built; Pla\u00e7a de Catalunya was urbanized; Diagonal was extended to the west and Gran V\u00eda to the southwest, as well as the promenades of Gr\u00e0cia and Sant Joan in the sections around Gr\u00e0cia. Various public works were also carried out: street asphalting and sewerage were improved, public toilets were installed, and the replacement of gas lighting with electric lighting was completed.. Finally, the city's communications were improved, with the construction in the 1920s of the Prat Airport, the renovation of the France Station, the improvement of connections with the suburbs, the elimination of level crossings within the city, the burying of the train tracks in the urban interior \u2014in streets such as Arag\u00f3, Balmes and Via Augusta\u2014 and the electrification of public streetcars. A funicular railway was also built to reach the top of the mountain \u2014with a second section to ascend to the castle which was replaced by a cable car in 1970\u2014, as well as a cable car to access the mountain from the port of Barcelona, a work by Carles Bu\u00efgas that was inaugurated in 1931 due to a delay in the works.All these public works led to a strong demand for employment, causing a large increase in immigration to Barcelona from all parts of Spain. This increase in population led to the construction of several working-class neighborhoods of \"cheap houses\", such as the Eduardo Aun\u00f3s group in Montjuic (now disappeared), the Ramon Alb\u00f3 group in Horta (now Can Peguera) and the Milans del Bosch (now Bon Pastor) and Bar\u00f3 de Viver groups in Bes\u00f3s. However, one of its worst effects was the rise of shantyism, since many of the immigrants who could not have access to housing resorted to self-construction, with precarious buildings made of scrap materials (cane, wood, brass), in single spaces for the family of about 25 m\u00b2. In 1930 there were about 15,000 barracks in Barcelona, mainly in Sant Andreu, Montju\u00efc mountain and the beaches of Barceloneta and Poblenou, where neighborhoods such as Pequ\u00edn, La Perona and Somorrostro are still remembered.In 1929, the first traffic lights were installed to regulate vehicular traffic: the first was located at the intersection of Balmes and Provenza streets, and by the end of the year there were ten operating throughout the city, regulated by agents of the Guardia Urbana. The Civil War meant a halt in the installation of traffic lights, which was reactivated in the 1950s. The first synchronization took place in 1958, in Via Laietana. In 1984 the Traffic Control Center was opened, which in 2004 controlled 1,500 traffic light crossings. Second Republic and the Maci\u00e0 Plan. The arrival of the Second Republic and the grant of self-government to Catalonia favored the creation of various urban development projects in a city that by 1930 had reached one million inhabitants and was deficient in infrastructure, housing, transport and facilities such as schools and hospitals. In 1932 the autonomous government of Catalonia, the Generalitat, commissioned the brothers Nicolau and Santiago Rubi\u00f3 i Tudur\u00ed to develop a zoning project for the Catalan territory (Regional Planning), which would be the first attempt at joint planning of all the lands of the Principality. The project included a region of Barcelona, which included the plain of the city, the Baix Llobregat and the group of towns around the Tibidabo mountain. The Regional Plan included all the considerations about the territory, both urban and natural, as well as in aspects such as agriculture and livestock, mining, industry, tourism, health and culture.Another territorial structuring project was carried out in 1936, the Territorial Division of Catalonia, based on a work commissioned by the Generalitat in 1932 to Pau Vila. The project sought a spatial organization based on administrative public services, which resulted in a division into 9 regions and 38 comarques. Barcelona became the capital of the Barcelon\u00e8s comarca, which included Hospitalet de Llobregat, Badalona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Sant Adri\u00e0 de Bes\u00f2s. At that time, Catalonia had an area of 32 049 km\u00b2, 2 920 748 inhabitants and 1070 municipalities.. During these years an interesting urban planning project was generated, the Maci\u00e0 Plan (1932-1935), elaborated by the architects of GATCPAC, with Josep Llu\u00eds Sert at the head, in collaboration with the French rationalist architect Le Corbusier. The project envisaged a functional distribution of the city with a new geometric order, through large vertebral axes and with a new maritime fa\u00e7ade defined by Cartesian skyscrapers, in addition to the improvement of facilities and services, the promotion of public housing and the creation of a large park and leisure center next to the Llobregat delta.. The Plan presented Barcelona as a political and administrative capital, with a working-class and functional character, which would be structured in different areas: a residential zone, a financial and industrial zone, a civic and service zone, and a recreational zone, which included parks and gardens and beaches; connectiobs, communications and transport were also studied in detail. The backbone would be the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, a 600 m wide strip that would run from the Llobregat to the Bes\u00f2s. The Meridiana and Paral\u00b7lel avenues were also promoted, which would converge at the port, where a city or business center would be located, moving the port facilities to the Zona Franca. For the residential area, they proposed the creation of 400 x 400 m modules \u2014equivalent to nine blocks of the Eixample\u2014 with large housing complexes and social facilities. The recreational area was conceived through green spaces located in these residential modules and in a large strip of land in the coastal area, between Barceloneta and Poblenou, as well as the creation of a vast complex for leisure called Ciutat de Rep\u00f2s i Vacances (Rest and Vacation City), which would be located on the beaches of Viladecans, Gav\u00e0 and Castelldefels.Although the Maci\u00e0 Plan was not put into practice, its innovative and avant-garde design made it one of the landmarks of Barcelona urban planning, along with the Cerd\u00e0 and Jaussely plans. Some of its aspects inspired the city's urban planning in the democratic period, especially in terms of the recovery of the seafront as a space intended for leisure, as evidenced by the location of the Maremagnum shopping center on the Quai d'Espanya or the creation of the Olympic Village and the various parks that follow one after the other from this to the Diagonal Mar area.Also on the initiative of GATCPAC, the Pla de Sanejament del Casc Antic (Old Town Sanitation Plan) (1935-1937), which provided for the demolition of blocks considered unhealthy, a sponging of urban space and the creation of hygienic facilities, all supported by a strong public intervention, a fact that favored the decree in 1937, in the course of the Civil War, the municipalization of urban property.The GATCPAC also developed a workers' housing plan inspired by Le Corbusier's model of building \u00e0 r\u00e9dent, which was embodied in the Bloc house (1932-1936, Josep Llu\u00eds Sert, Josep Torres Clav\u00e9 and Joan Baptista Subirana), an S-shaped housing complex of long, narrow blocks with a two-bay metal structure, with access to the dwellings through covered corridors. The outbreak of the Civil War cut short the dissemination of this project.In the 1930s the first pedestrian road signs appeared: the first ones were vertical, consisting of a white oval plate on a pole with the inscription \"pedestrian crossing\"; later, horizontal signs were placed, in the form of 10 x 30 cm metal plates, with a rough texture, placed on the asphalt in such a way that their protruding bands made cars slow down. Franco's dictatorship and the Comarcal Plan. The years of the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975) were characterized by urban development, which consisted of the unbridled construction of cheap housing, mostly subsidized housing, to absorb immigration from the rest of Spain. In two decades it went from 1,280,179 inhabitants in 1950 to 1,745,142 in 1970. However, although subsidized housing was encouraged, this did not stop speculation. New housing was developed mostly on the periphery of the city \u2014an area of about 2500 ha, twice the size of the Eixample\u2014, with three main models: suburban sprawl neighborhoods, marginal or self-construction urbanization neighborhoods, and mass housing estates. The construction of housing was carried out, in many cases, without prior urban planning, and using cheap materials that, over the years, would cause various problems such as aluminosis. The construction fever caused the creation or expansion of new neighborhoods, such as El Carmel, Nou Barris, El Guinard\u00f3, Vall d'Hebron, La Sagrera, El Clot or El Poblenou. The growth of the suburbs caused the uninterrupted connection with the neighboring municipalities (Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Badalona, Sant Adri\u00e0 de Bes\u00f2s, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Esplugues de Llobregat), which in turn grew enormously, a fact that led Mayor Porcioles to coin the concept of the \"Great Barcelona.\"Real estate speculation was favored by the reform of the Municipal Ordinances carried out in 1942, which increased the height of buildings in relation to the width of the streets: in streets between 20 and 30 m (average width of the Eixample), heights of up to 24.40 m were allowed, equivalent to a first floor and six floors, while in streets over 30 m the height could reach 27.45 m (seven floors). This increase in buildability caused notable differences between buildings constructed at different times, and led to the presence of numerous party walls that disfigured the urban space, a problem that the city still suffers from despite several projects to remedy it, such as the Barcelona posa't guapa (Barcelona, make yourself pretty) campaign.The post-war urban renewal was led by the head of urban planning of the new authorities, Pedro Bidagor, who in 1945 promoted the creation of the Barcelona Provincial Planning Commission, responsible for drawing up a planning project for the city and its surroundings. Thus arose the Regional Plan of 1953, developed by Josep Soteras, an attempt to integrate the city with neighboring municipalities in order to meet the strong demand for housing in the years of massive immigration, while trying to curb real estate speculation and improve the urban environment. The Plan was accompanied by a legislative change, the Land and Urban Planning Law of 1956, which sought to bring rationality to urban development, although it encountered numerous difficulties in its application. The project differentiated between zones of urban expansion, suburban or garden cities, applying a polarized distribution of the territory; thus, in Barcelona it identified three zones as areas of growth: Levante, Poniente and Diagonal Norte. It also reserved large areas for infrastructure, facilities and green spaces; among the latter, it emphasized the enclosure of the Collserola mountain range as a large central metropolitan park.Although it was not carried out in its entirety, various \"partial plans\" emerged from its initial approach, most of which yielded to the pressures of the land owners and tended towards the requalification of land: a 1971 study calculated a 1.8 multiplication of the population density of the partial plans with respect to the Comarcal of 1953. The most relevant were those referring to the two ends of the Diagonal avenue, east and west: in the first the new neighborhoods of La Verneda and Bes\u00f2s were created, while in the second the Zona Universitaria was projected and the neighborhoods of Les Corts and Collblanc were enlarged.. The growth of the population and the appearance of new neighborhoods implied the construction of new markets for the supply of basic products: Sagrada Fam\u00edlia (1944), Carme (1950), Sagrera (1950), Horta (1951), Vallvidrera (1953), Estrella (1954), Guinard\u00f3 (1954), Tres Torres (1958), Bon Pastor (1960), Montserrat (1960), Merc\u00e8 (1961), Corts (1961), Guineueta (1965), Ciutat Meridiana (1966), Felip II (1966), Sant Mart\u00ed (1966), Bes\u00f2s (1968), Sant Gervasi (1968), Carmel (1969), Vall d'Hebr\u00f3n (1969), Port (1973), Proven\u00e7als (1974), Lesseps (1974), Trinitat (1977) and Canyelles (1987).During these years, automobile traffic increased considerably, which led to the improvement of the city's road network: Meridiana Avenue was opened, the First Ring Road (Ronda del Mig) was built and the Second Ring Road was planned, the construction of subway parking lots was started and the freeway network was extended thanks to the 1962 arterial network project, with a set of radial highways starting from Barcelona in several axes (Vall\u00e8s, Llobregat, Maresme). The opening of three tunnels to cross the Collserola mountain range, at Vallvidrera, Tibidabo and Horta, was also proposed, of which only the first one was built, of which only the first phase was built between 1969 and 1976 and the second between 1982 and 1991; the Rovira tunnel was also built between 1983 and 1987, linking El Guinard\u00f3 with El Carmel, which was supposed to link the Horta tunnel with the center of the city.. In transportation, streetcars were replaced by buses, and the metro network was expanded; in 1941 trolleybuses appeared, which disappeared in 1968. The water supply was also improved with the contribution coming from the Ter River, natural gas was introduced, and the electrical and telephone networks were renewed.In 1952 Barcelona hosted the XXXV International Eucharistic Congress, which allowed the development of a new neighborhood known as Congreso (Congr\u00e9s), with a housing complex designed by Josep Soteras, Carles Marqu\u00e8s and Antoni Pineda. The complex, of 16.5 ha, included a complex of 3,000 homes, 300 commercial premises, a church (parish of San P\u00edo X) and various school, sports and cultural services and facilities, with alternating open and closed blocks. In the rest of the city, several renovations were also carried out, such as the opening of the avenues of Pr\u00edncipe de Asturias (now Riera de Cassoles) and Infanta Carlota (now Josep Tarradellas); a monumental fountain was placed at the intersection of Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes and Passeig de Gr\u00e0cia, the work of Josep Soteras; and Calvo Sotelo square \u2014currently Francesc Maci\u00e0\u2014 was landscaped, with a project by Nicolau Maria Rubi\u00f3 i Tudur\u00ed.In 1957 the first section of the Paseo Mar\u00edtimo was opened, an idea that had emerged in the 1920s but had not yet been developed, with a project by Enric Giralt i Ortet. On the other hand, the housing deficit to accommodate the new immigration led to the enactment of the Social Urgency Plan of 1958, which led to the construction of large blocks of social housing in neighborhoods on the periphery, such as La Verneda, Torre Llobeta, La Trinitat and Verdum.. The Zona Franca, an industrial sector located between the mountain of Montjuic, the port and the Llobregat, was also established at that time. The idea arose in 1900, due to the loss of the colonial market in Cuba, promoted by Fomento del Trabajo Nacional (National Labor Development) an entity that commissioned the project to Guillem Graell. However, bureaucratic obstacles, the outline of several projects that did not come to fruition and the Civil War delayed its construction until the 1960s, although then simply as an industrial estate, abandoning the concept of a zona franca. In addition to the industrial area itself, several residential neighborhoods were located in the sector, such as Casa Ant\u00fanez, Can Clos, La Vinya and Polvor\u00edn. In 1967, Mercabarna, a central wholesale food market that supplies the entire city, was established in the area. In 1993 the Zona d'Actividades Log\u00edsticas (Logistics Activities Zone) (ZAL), dedicated to post-production and pre-commercial activities, was also created in the area.Between 1957 and 1973, Josep Maria de Porcioles was mayor, a long term of office known as the \"Porcioles era\", which stood out in urban planning for its speculative rampage, favored by the Municipal Charter of 1960, which granted the City Council broad powers in many areas, including urban planning. Porcioles created the Municipal Housing Board, whose developments included the creation of large housing estates, such as Montbau (1958-1961), Southwest Bes\u00f2s (1959-1960) and Canyelles (1974). Some of the urban development actions of this period were positive, such as the covering of Arag\u00f3n street, the extension of the Gran V\u00eda towards the Maresme, the adaptation of the seafront of Montjuic or the Barceloneta promenade; however, the speculative rampage of large real estate operations generated popular discontent that resulted in the so-called \"urban social movements\", which combined the discomfort generated by the degradation of the urban periphery with political protest against the Franco regime. Examples of this were the opposition to the new layout of Lesseps square caused by the opening of the First Ring Road (Ronda del Mig), or the reaction against the Partial Plan of Vallbona, Torre Bar\u00f3 and Trinitat, organized by a neighborhood association called Nueve Barrios (Nine Neighbourhoods) which later gave rise to the name of that new district of the city.. Despite the rise of developmentalism, there were some attempts at urban reorganization, such as the Master Plan for the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (1966), which sought to make profitability and urban construction compatible, although its guiding character did not lead to practical realization; and the so-called Plan Barcelona 2000 (1970), a somewhat utopian attempt to establish criteria for the future city, where the importance given to infrastructure predominates, while a realistic commitment was made to the disorderly nature of urban growth. In the same 1970 a project for a Universal Exposition in 1982 emerged, which foresaw the opening of large avenues in the city, among them a vertical axis that would link Plaza de Espa\u00f1a with Vall\u00e8s through the Vallvidrera tunnel, and a Gran V\u00eda Norte formed with Josep Tarradellas street and the Travessera de Gr\u00e0cia extended to Santa Coloma; all this was not finally realized. In 1969 the Vilalta Plan for the construction of treatment plants for the treatment of the city's wastewater was also approved.Between 1964 and 1972 the Plan de la Ribera was developed, aimed at the urbanization of the city's eastern seafront, from Barceloneta to Bes\u00f2s, an area of 225 ha. Prepared by Antoni Bonet i Castellana, it was based on the deindustrialization of the area, and proposed the creation of a megastructure of seven large blocks of 500 x 500 m of luxury housing. The project had a long administrative process, and was not included in the Regional Plan until 1970. However, in 1972 the Town Planning Department of the City Council requested a redrafting of the project, due to opposition from neighbors and professional associations, who denounced the speculation attempts of the companies that financed the project, so it was definitively paralyzed. However, over time the plan was recognized as an attempt to renew Barcelona's urban planning, in line with international trends such as urban renewal or renovation urbaine, and the renovation of the coast remained in the collective imagination, which was finally carried out on the occasion of the Olympic Games.Finally, during the dictatorship the actions in green spaces focused more on the maintenance and restoration of existing areas than on the creation of new spaces. In 1940 Llu\u00eds Riudor, the initiator of landscaping in Catalonia, was put in charge of Parks and Gardens. His actions included the Austria Garden \u2014located in the Park G\u00fcell enclosure\u2014, the Monterols Park, the Cervantes Park, and various interventions in the Montju\u00efc mountain aimed at eliminating shantytowns, a project continued by his successor, Joaquim Casamor, with the creation of several thematic gardens, such as the Moss\u00e8n Costa i Llobera gardens, specialized in cacti and succulents, and the Moss\u00e8n Cinto Verdaguer gardens, dedicated to aquatic, bulbous and rhizomatous plants. His work also included the Mirador del Alcalde and Joan Maragall gardens on Montjuic, located around the Alb\u00e9niz Palacete; and, in the rest of Barcelona, the Putget, Guineueta and Villa Amelia parks. Democracy and the General Metropolitan Plan. The end of the dictatorship and the advent of democracy brought a new era in the architectural and urban planning panorama of the city, which was increasingly immersed in international avant-garde trends. The new socialist councils of Narc\u00eds Serra (1979-1982) and Pasqual Maragall (1982-1997) were committed to urban planning and architecture as the city's hallmarks, and initiated an extensive program of urban reforms that culminated with the 1992 Olympic Games. The new public commitment was reflected in the increase of facilities such as schools, parks and gardens, roads and urban spaces, and civic, cultural and sports centers.A large part of the municipal actions consisted of the acquisition of urban land, a fact favored by the relocation of factories and industrial complexes that moved out of the city. This policy was favored by the new consistory, which appointed Oriol Bohigas as Urban Planning delegate, which began a period of strong public investment in the city that led to a radical change in the urban physiognomy and a new projection of Barcelona at international level, which came to fruition with the Olympic Games.Municipal actions in those years focused on reconstruction versus expansion, on public versus private initiative. Against the vision of the city as a unitary entity, the concept of the sum of realities was opposed, prioritizing attention to local needs. It sought to palliate both quantitative and qualitative deficits, in which each intervention in public space served as an engine of urban regeneration, compensating the peripheries with a \"monumentalization\" of their environment.One of the factors driving urban change was industrial restructuring, promoted by the Plan for the reindustrialization of the center of Barcelona, which resulted in the creation of an Zona d'Urgent Reindustrialitzaci\u00f3 (Urgent Reindustrialization Zone) (ZUR). The new industrial development was based on factors such as R&D, and on the commitment to new technologies.. The new urban planning was embodied in the General Metropolitan Urban Development Plan (1976), drafted by Joan Antoni Solans, an attempt to curb speculation and rehabilitate the most degraded urban spaces, placing special emphasis on social, welfare and cultural facilities. To this end, the Metropolitan Corporation of Barcelona was created, which included the capital and 26 surrounding municipalities. Three general lines of action were outlined: one of small-scale urban rehabilitation, such as the opening of streets and squares, the creation of parks and gardens and the restoration of buildings and artistic monuments; another of urban restructuring, focused on aspects such as road reorganization (ring roads), new central areas and land requalification; and another of morphological reorganization, which took the form of the current administrative division of the city into ten districts (1984), most of which coincided with the former municipalities attached to Barcelona. One of the main tools for these interventions would be the Plans Especials de Reforma Interior (Special Plans of Interior Renovations) (PERI).However, the ambitious nature of the project, which reserved numerous areas for green spaces and intended to requalify others with a high population density, provoked countless lawsuits and claims, both from individuals and landowners, which delayed its execution and eventually left the project practically inoperative, a fact that was materialized with the dissolution of the Metropolitan Corporation in 1985 by the Generalitat de Catalunya. Even so, its general guidelines have marked the urban planning actions of the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century.Between 1983 and 1989 the concept of \"areas of new centrality\" was developed, in search of a more polycentric and better connected city. The aim was to decongest the center by promoting various sectors of the urban periphery, which should regenerate low-quality urban fabrics thanks to their intrinsic morphological qualities. Twelve areas were delimited: RENFE-Meridiana, Diagonal-Sarri\u00e0, Tarragona street, Cerd\u00e0 square, Port Vell, Gl\u00f2ries square, Diagonal-Prim (future F\u00f2rum area), Sant Andreu-Sagrera and four related to the Olympic Games: Montjuic, Diagonal-Zona Universit\u00e0ria, Vall d'Hebron and Carles I-Avinguda Ic\u00e0ria (future Olympic Village).. During this period, numerous stretches of the city's roads were improved, with wide and often landscaped avenues designed mainly for pedestrian traffic. Some examples are: Avinguda de Gaud\u00ed, Avinguda de Josep Tarradellas, Carrer Tarragona, the connection between the old Rambles and the Rambla de Catalunya, Passeig de Llu\u00eds Companys, Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, Via J\u00falia and Rambla de Prim. Numerous squares were also opened and refurbished, in many cases also landscaped, such as those of Salvador Allende, Baixa de Sant Pere, Sant Agust\u00ed Vell, la Merc\u00e8, S\u00f3ller and Robacols.Among the sectoral plans developed during these years it is worth mentioning: those of Ciutat Vella, especially in the Raval, Santa Caterina and Barceloneta; that of Carmel; that of Gr\u00e0cia, where several squares were urbanized (Sol, Virreina, Trilla, Diamant and Raspall, 1982-1985); and those of Sarri\u00e0, Sant Andreu and Poblenou. Policies to promote affordable housing were also carried out, and in Eixample the recovery of the block courtyards as green areas or public services was sought.In 1988 the Pla Especial de Clavegueram de Barcelona (Special Sewerage Plan of Barcelona) (PECB) was approved, which remodeled the network of coastal sewers, eliminating practically half of the city's flood areas, while promoting the construction of breakwaters, which allowed the recovery of the city's beaches. The same purpose was served by the 1997 Pla Especial de Clavegueram de Barcelona (Special Sewerage Plan for Barcelona) (PECLAB), which boosted stormwater regulation reservoirs to prevent flooding.The arrival of democracy favored the creation of new green areas in the city. At this time gardening was closely linked to urban planning, with a concept that combined aesthetics with functionality, as well as recreational aspects, sports facilities and services for certain groups such as children or the elderly, as well as areas for dogs. Numerous parks were converted from former municipal facilities, such as the Joan Mir\u00f3 park, built between 1980 and 1982 on the site of the former central slaughterhouse of Barcelona; or in industrial areas (Espanya Industrial park, 1981-1985; Pegaso park, 1982-1986; Clot park, 1982-1986) or former railway facilities (Sant Mart\u00ed park, 1985; Estaci\u00f3 del Nord park, 1988). The Creueta del Coll park (1981-1987), a work of the Martorell-Bohigas-Mackay team, was also established on the site of an old quarry. 1992 Olympic Games. Another of Barcelona's profound transformations came on the occasion of the 1992 Olympic Games. The event involved the remodeling of part of the mountain of Montju\u00efc, where the so-called Olympic Ring (1985-1992), designed by Carles Buxad\u00e9, Joan Margarit, Federico Correa and Alfons Mil\u00e0, a large enclosure located between the Olympic Stadium Llu\u00eds Companys and the Pla\u00e7a d'Europa, which houses several sports facilities including the Palau Sant Jordi, was located.To accommodate the athletes, a new neighborhood was built, the Poblenou Olympic Village (1985-1992), with a general layout of the Martorell-Bohigas-Mackay-Puigdom\u00e8nech team. The planning of the Olympic Village was complex, and several aspects had to be adapted: the coastal railroad had to be buried; sewage treatment plants had to be built and the wastewater that had previously gone directly into the sea had to be channeled; a new port (Olympic Port) was built; new beaches were established and regenerated; and new road and transport axes were laid out, such as Avinguda d'Ic\u00e0ria. Several facilities were also installed in the area, such as the Telephone Exchange (1989-1992, Jaume Bach and Gabriel Mora) and the Meteorology Center (1990-1992, \u00c1lvaro Siza). On the other hand, the construction of two large skyscrapers (Hotel Arts and Torre Mapfre) changed the physiognomy of Barcelona.. Another area of action was the Vall d'Hebron neighborhood, planned according to a project by Eduard Bru (1989-1991), which combined green areas with sports facilities. This area was the site of the Olympic Press Village (1989-1991), designed by Carlos Ferrater.The Olympic Games also led to the creation of new parks and gardens, such as the parks of Mirador del Migdia, Poblenou, Carles I and three designed by the firm Martorell-Bohigas-Mackay: the park of the Cascades, the Olympic Port and the park of Nova Ic\u00e0ria.On the occasion of the Games, the Old port (Port Vell) was also remodeled, with a project by Jordi Henrich and Olga Tarras\u00f3. The new space was dedicated to leisure, with the creation of the Maremagnum leisure center, connected to land by the Rambla de Mar, a pivoting bridge designed by Helio Pi\u00f1\u00f3n and Albert Viaplana. For the event a Coastal Plan was also instituted with a view to the regeneration of the city's beaches, which had been quite eroded until then, and which were totally renovated and won for the enjoyment of the citizens. Beaches such as Sant Sebasti\u00e0, Barceloneta, Nova Ic\u00e0ria, Bogatell, Mar Bella and Nova Mar Bella were cleaned and filled with sand from the seabed, sewage treatment plants were built on the Bes\u00f2s and Llobregat rivers and underwater reefs were placed to favor flora and fauna. On the other hand, the Llobregat River was diverted in its final stretch 2.5 km to the south, thus allowing the port to be extended in that direction.. Another urban planning action was in the Raval neighborhood, which was remodeled with a project by Jaume Artigues and Pere Cabrera, which consisted of the opening of the Rambla del Raval and the adequacy of the surroundings of the Pla\u00e7a dels \u00c0ngels as a cultural center, where the Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (1990-1993) and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (1987-1996) were located.The Games also brought progress in the technological sector, with new infrastructures especially in the telecommunications sector: the Collserola (by Norman Foster) and Montju\u00efc (by Santiago Calatrava) communications towers were built, and 150 km of optical fiber cabling were installed in the city's subsoil.It should also be noted that the road infrastructure of the city was significantly expanded for the Games, especially with the creation of the ring roads, arranged as a ring road around the entire urban perimeter. The general planning was carried out between 1989 and 1992 by Josep Acebillo, technical director of the Municipal Institute for Urban Development, and Alfred Morales, coordinator of transport and circulation of the Barcelona City Council. There are currently three ring roads: the Ronda de Dalt, the Ronda del Mig and the Ronda del Litoral; the first two ring roads circumvent Barcelona, while the Ronda del Mig (of the \"middle\") crosses the city and receives different names depending on the section (Passeig de la Zona Franca, Carrer de Badal, Rambla del Brasil, Gran Via de Carles III, Ronda del General Mitre, Travesera de Dalt and Ronda del Guinard\u00f3).. On the other hand, there was a campaign to restore facades and monuments and to adapt dividing walls, called Barcelona posa't guapa (Barcelona make yourself pretty) (1986-1992), directed by Josep Emili Hern\u00e1ndez-Cros, from the Heritage area of the City Council.The celebration of the Games was a challenge for the urban planning of the city, and was a platform for a determined strategic urban planning action, with a perfect harmony between social and economic agents, which led to a new projection of the city both nationally and internationally, and led to talk of a \"Barcelona model\" as an integrative project of urban reform that was exportable to other cities.The last years of the century were marked by the search for a more sustainable urban planning based on ecological criteria. This new awareness was reflected in the search for public spaces adapted to the environment and designed for the residents, with special emphasis on community facilities and services. These criteria were defined in particular at the Sustainable Barcelona Civic Forum, held in 1998. One of the main achievements during these years in the interests of sustainability has been the commitment to the bicycle as a more environmentally friendly means of transport: in 1993 the first bicycle path was installed on Avinguda Diagonal, on a 3 km stretch; since then the space allocated to bicycles has not stopped increasing, the use of which has also been favored by the creation in 2007 of a municipal bicycle rental company (Bicing), with several stopping points throughout the city.The turn of the century also saw an increase in multi-municipal projects, especially in terms of infrastructure and transport, such as the expansion of the port and the airport, the route of the AVE and the Plan for public transport, or the projects for the rehabilitation of the Llobregat and Bes\u00f3s deltas. The Pla Director d'Infraestructures (Infrastructure Master Plan) (PDI) marked the expansion and improvement of public transport, with a Metro network covering the entire metropolitan area, the reintroduction of the tramway at both ends of the Diagonal (Baix Llobregat and Bes\u00f2s), and the improvement of the bus network. 21st Century. With the turn of the century, the city continued to focus on innovation and design as projects for the future, together with the use of new technologies and a commitment to environmental sustainability. In 2000, the Urban Strategies Advisory Council was created to assist the City Council in urban planning and strategic decision making for the city and its surroundings. Initially it was composed of Oriol Bohigas, Dominique Perrault, Richard Rogers, Ramon Folch, Jordi Nadal and Antoni Mar\u00ed.One of the first urban development projects of the new millennium was the creation of the 22@ district, thanks to a modification of the General Metropolitan Plan in 2000. Its objective is the reformulation of the industrial land in the El Poblenou neighborhood, a traditionally industrial sector that fell into decline at the end of the 20th century due to the relocation of most companies to land outside the city. The preservation of the productive business fabric of the area was then promoted, focusing on companies dedicated to new technologies, in line with the private sector and the day-to-day activities of the area. The area of action is 115 ha, which made it one of the areas of greatest urban renewal in Europe at the beginning of the 21st century.. One of the most outstanding events of the new millennium was the celebration of the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures, which led to new urban changes in the city: the entire Bes\u00f2s area, until then populated by old disused factories, was recovered, the entire Poblenou neighborhood was regenerated and the new Diagonal Mar neighborhood was built, while the city was provided with new parks and spaces for the leisure of the citizens. The site was designed by El\u00edas Torres and Jos\u00e9 Antonio Mart\u00ednez Lape\u00f1a, with a 16-hectare multipurpose esplanade culminating at one end with a large photovoltaic panel, which became one of the emblems of the event.The urban planning of the new millennium has reinforced the polynuclear grid structure promoted since the 1990s, which has favored the emergence of new urban centers such as the F\u00f2rum, 22@ and La Sagrera. Currently the Pla\u00e7a de les Gl\u00f2ries Catalanes is being remodeled, an important road axis where the undergrounding of automobile traffic is planned and the recovery of the land for public use.. Communications have improved with the arrival of the high-speed train, which links the Catalan capital with Madrid and Paris; the Mediterranean Corridor, a strategic transport line between the peninsula and the European continent, is in the project. The port and El Prat airport have also been expanded, with the aim of making Barcelona the logistics hub of southern Europe. The metro network has been expanded, with the extension of several lines (3 and 5), and the creation of some new ones (9, 10 and 11), some of them fully automated. In 2012, an orthogonal rearrangement of the bus network was initiated, to create a bus rapid transit network. The construction of a fourth ring road is also planned to improve communications in the metropolitan area, as well as the connection between the Baix Llobregat and Bes\u00f2s streetcars through Avinguda Diagonal.In recent years, numerous infrastructures have been installed in the city to facilitate pedestrian transit in high and inaccessible areas, mainly elevators and escalators. A clear example is the neighborhood of El Carmel, where in 2005 there was also a subsidence due to the extension works of line 5 of the subway, which caused the demolition of several buildings and the relocation of hundreds of neighbors. As a result, the Generalitat declared El Carmel as an \u00c0rea Extraordin\u00e0ria de Rehabilitaci\u00f3 Integral (Extraordinary Area of Integral Rehabilitation) (AERI), with a program of intervention and promotion of public works, rehabilitation of buildings and improvement of public facilities.In terms of green spaces, the most recent projects include: the Central Park of Nou Barris (1997-2007), by Carme Fiol and Andreu Arriola, which in 2007 received the International Urban Landscape Award architecture prize in Frankfurt (Germany); the Diagonal Mar Park (1999-2002), by Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue, a park of modern design where the presence of water stands out; and the Poblenou Center Park (2008), by Jean Nouvel, divided into various thematic spaces, with an avant-garde design. In 2016, the first large park for dogs was opened, a 700 m\u00b2 space located in the Nou Barris district, which has a watering hole and play elements for pets.A new impetus for urban planning began in 2015 with the start of the drafting of the new Pla Director Urban\u00edstic (Urban Master Plan) (PDU) for the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, scheduled for approval in 2021. The PDU is intended to complement the 1976 General Metropolitan Plan in order to promote the urban and social transformation of the metropolitan area of the Catalan capital, made up of 36 municipalities and 3.5 million inhabitants. The objectives of the new plan include: classifying metropolitan land and establishing criteria for urbanization, establishing building regulations, defining areas for urban transformation and their sustainable development, preserving the environment, respecting forest and agricultural land, and guaranteeing proper mobility of people and transport. According to Ramon Torra, manager of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, \"the PDU has two conceptual objectives: the definition of a metropolitan urban planning model that integrates the current diversity, is ecologically sustainable, economically efficient and socially cohesive; and the methods and tools necessary to carry it out.\"In September 2016, a pilot test was initiated for the adaptation of certain sets of city blocks as \"superblocks\", intermediate spaces between the block and the neighborhood, with restricted vehicle traffic to enhance pedestrian traffic, bicycle circulation and public transport, also gaining spaces for leisure and public facilities. The first test was carried out on a set of nine blocks in Poblenou, where vertical and horizontal signs were changed to mark the area. Traffic is prohibited in a straight line, so that vehicles can only turn at intersections, and is limited to 10 km/h. This leaves free the interior space between blocks, which will be used for public spaces, for which an ideas competition has been organized among architecture students.After this pilot test, a new phase of creating superblocks in the Eixample district began in 2020, with the aim of establishing 42 new green axes and squares within ten years, until 2030. The first axis of action would be Consell de Cent street, where the creation of four new agoras in Rocafort, Borrell, Enric Granados and Girona is planned. According to the forecast, one out of every three streets in the Eixample would give priority to pedestrianization and public and sustainable transport. In contrast to the pilot tests, this time it will be done by axes instead of blocks, with the subsequent creation of new plazas on intersecting axes. Private traffic will be restricted to residents, with a maximum speed of 10 km/h. A budget of 37.8 million euros is foreseen for these actions. Work is scheduled to start in 2022. These changes seek to comply with the objetivos de desarrollo sostenible (Sustainable Development Goals) (SDGs) promoted by the United Nations Organization.The COVID-19 pandemic that began in December 2019 worldwide led to various urban planning changes in the city, some temporary and others that became permanent. On March 14, 2020, the Spanish government decreed the entry into force of the state of alarm throughout the national territory, with the obligation of citizens to confine themselves to their homes except for essential services. To keep their distance in order to avoid contagion, numerous spaces were set aside for pedestrians to pass through, at the expense of the roadways for vehicular traffic. These areas were marked with colored paint according to their use: blue for bicycles and yellow for pedestrians, together with the use of temporary elements such as bollards and concrete blocks. In many of these spaces, areas were set up as terraces for bars and restaurants, so that customers could drink outdoors, a space more conducive to avoiding contagion. These measures, initially conceived with an ephemeral character, were defined by the councilor of Urbanism, Janet Sanz, as \"an example of tactical urbanism.\" Over time, many of these temporary changes became permanent, such as the spaces enabled for terraces of hospitality establishments, which were regulated in September 2021 by a new ordinance that established new criteria for permanent street furniture, specifically seven new platform models to integrate the elements of such establishments (tables, chairs, umbrellas) in the surrounding space. ", "title": "Urban planning of Barcelona", "qa_pairs": "[{'Q': 'Among 10 districts of Barcelona, Which district has the highest population density?', 'A': 'Eixample.', 'type': 'computation', 'S': ['Ciutat Vella:\\n[Population (2015): 100,685;\\nArea: 4.49 km2;\\nDensity = 100,685 / 4.49 = 22,431 people/km2.]\\nEixample:\\n[Population: 263,565;\\nArea: 7.46 km2;\\nDensity = 263,565 / 7.46 = 35,338 people/km2.]\\nSants-Montju?c:\\n[Population: 180,824;\\nArea: 21.35 km2;\\nDensity = 180,824 / 21.35 = 8,473 people/km2.]\\nLes Corts:\\n[Population: 81,200;\\nArea: 6.08 km2;\\nDensity = 81,200 / 6.08 = 13,355 people/km2.]\\nSarri\u00e0-Sant Gervasi:\\n[Population: 145,761;\\nArea: 20.09 km2;\\nDensity = 145,761 / 20.09 = 7,254 people/km2.]\\nGr\u00e0cia:\\n[Population: 120,273;\\nArea: 4.19 km2;\\nDensity = 120,273 / 4.19 = 28,710 people/km2.]\\nHorta-Guinard\u00f3:\\n[Population: 166,950;\\nArea: 11.96 km2;\\nDensity = 166,950 / 11.96 = 13,959 people/km2.]\\nNou Barris:\\n[Population: 164,516;\\nArea: 8.04 km2;\\nDensity = 164,516 / 8.04 = 20,466 people/km2.]\\nSant Andreu:\\n[Population: 145,983;\\nArea: 6.56 km2;\\nDensity = 145,983 / 6.56 = 22,246 people/km2.]\\nSant Mart\u00ed:\\n[Population: 232,629;\\nArea: 10.80 km2;\\nDensity = 232,629 / 10.80 = 21,540 people/km2.]']}, {'Q': 'What is the founctional zoning of each district in Barcelona?', 'A': 'Ciutat Vella: Historic and cultural center, major tourist area.?\\nEixample: residential and tourist area.?\\nSants-Montju?c: Industrial and logistics area, sports facilities.?\\nLes Corts: Upscale residential area, financial institutions.\\nSarri\u00e0-Sant Gervasi: Residential area with single-family homes and villas.?\\nGr\u00e0cia: Agricultural area, urban and industiral fabric.?\\nHorta-Guinard\u00f3: Residential neighborhood.\\nNou Barris: Working class residential area.?\\nSant Andreu: Formerly industrial, now regenerating.?\\nSant Mart\u00ed: Formerly industrial, now new technology firms.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': ['(Ciutat Vella) It corresponds to the old core of the city, the one derived from the Roman and medieval periods, plus the Barceloneta neighborhood, created in the eighteenth century.?\\n....Being the oldest part of the city, it has numerous monuments and architectural works of interest, making it an important focus of tourist attraction.', '(Eixample) It is a densely populated district, since in its beginnings it was mainly a residential area where wealthy families stayed after leaving the old part of the city.Even so, it is an important focus of tourist attraction, especially due to the presence of modernist architectural works, which has encouraged trade and the installation in the area of major commercial brands', \"(Sants-Montju?c)?\\nIt also includes the?Zona Franca.?\\nIt has a high percentage of green area, thanks mainly to the presence of the Montjuic mountain, as well as industrial land.\\nAnother of Barcelona's profound transformations came on the occasion of the 1992 Olympic Games. The event involved the remodeling of part of the mountain of Montju?c.\\nThe Zona Franca, an industrial sector located between the mountain of Montjuic, the port and the Llobregat, was also established at that time.\", '(Les Corts) It is also the district with the lowest population density, mainly because it is a high status residential area, with a predominance of single-family houses.', '(Sant Mart\u00ed) Like the previous one, it was an agricultural and milling area, until the arrival of the Industrial Revolution when numerous factories were installed in the area; however, in recent decades it has suffered a process of deindustrialization, replaced by economic activities more based on new technologies, especially after the location of the so-called 22@ district.', '(Gr\u00e0cia) It was an agricultural area, which in the early nineteenth century began to forge an urban and industrial fabric.']}, {'Q': 'Reorder the timeline of below events:?\\n1. a new wall was built from Sant Pere de les Puelles to the Drassanes, facing the sea.\\n2. the city walls were demolished after strong public protests.\\n3. The first wall of the city began to be built.\\n4. a wall was built and lengthened that connected the beach to the island of Maians.\\n5. Walls were strengthened and heightened to defend against Germanic invasions.', 'A': '3,5,1,4,2', 'type': 'timeline_reorder', 'S': ['The first wall of the city, of simple construction, began to be built in the first century B.C.', 'However, the first incursions by Franks and Alemanni from the 250s onwards made it necessary to reinforce the walls, which were enlarged in the 4th century.', 'The creation of these new neighborhoods made it necessary to extend the walled perimeter, so in 1260 a new wall was built from Sant Pere de les Puelles to the Drassanes, facing the sea. The new section was 5100 m long and covered an area of 1.5 km2.', 'Finally, in 1438, royal permission was obtained to build a port: first, a ship loaded with stones was sunk to serve as a base for the wall that connected the beach to the island of Maians; the wall was reinforced in 1477 and lengthened in the form of a breakwater in 1484.', 'Between 1854 and 1859, the city walls were demolished, allowing the city to expand, under a project called the Eixample, drawn up by Ildefons Cerd\u00e0 in 1859.']}, {'Q': 'How many religious functional zones that have historically emerged in Barcelona?', 'A': '2', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': ['Jewish Quarter (Call) :During medieval times Barcelona had a Jewish quarter, the Call, located between the current streets of Ferran, Banys Nous, Palla and Bisbe. Founded in 692, it survived until its destruction in 1391 in a xenophobic assault. It was separated from the rest of the city by a wall, and had two synagogues (Mayor, now a museum, and Menor, now the parish church of Sant Jaume), baths, schools and hospitals.', 'Christian Quarters: Various population centers (vila nova) were created, generally around churches and monasteries: this was the case around the church of Santa Maria del Mar, where a neighborhood of port character was created; likewise around the church of Sant Cugat del Rec , of an agrarian character; the neighborhood of Sant Pere around Sant Pere de les Puelles; the neighborhood of El Pi arose around the church of Santa Maria del Pi; that of Santa Anna next to the church of the same name; the neighborhood of Arcs settled around the Portal del Bisbe; and the Mercadal, around the market of Portal Major.']}, {'Q': 'Throughout its history, how many dynastic successions (include nations) has the city of Barcelona undergone, from ancient times to the present?', 'A': '9', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': ['Barcelona was founded by Roman colonizers in the first century BC with the name of Barcino.', 'After the fall of the Roman Empire and until the formation of the Catalan counties, there were several conquests and the passage of successive civilizations, from the Visigoths and Arabs to a period of integration into the Carolingian Empire.', 'At this time Barcelona was constituted as a county and later became part of the Crown of Aragon and the political and economic center of the Principality of Catalonia, becoming an important maritime and commercial axis of the Mediterranean Sea.', 'In this period Barcelona and Catalonia became part of the Hispanic Monarchy, which arose from the dynastic union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon.', 'The arrival of the Bourbons generated a series of military engineering works, such as the castle of Montju?c and the fortress of the Citadel.', \"The 20th century was conditioned by the convulsive political situation, with the end of the monarchy in 1931 and the arrival of the Second Republic, which ended with the Civil War and was replaced by Franco's dictatorship, until the reestablishment of the monarchy and the arrival of democracy.\"]}, {'Q': \"Was Ildefons Cerd\u00e0's urban expansion scheme conceived prior to or subsequent to the amalgamation of Barcelona with these six neighboring municipalities?\", 'A': \"Cerd\u00e0's urban expansion plan was proposed befor Barcelona merged with the 6 surrounding towns in 1897.\", 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': ['Between 1854 and 1859, the city walls were demolished, allowing the city to expand, under a project called the Eixample, drawn up by Ildefons Cerd\u00e0 in 1859.', 'The beginning of the century was marked by the geographical expansion of the city: in 1897 Barcelona annexed six neighboring towns, until then independent: Sants, Les Corts, San Gervasio de Cassolas, Gr\u00e0cia, Sant Andreu de Palomar and Sant Mart\u00ed de Proven?als.']}, {'Q': 'In which cardinal direction does Barcelona lie within Spain?', 'A': 'Northeast.', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': [\"Barcelona, capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, is located in the Spanish Levant, on the Mediterranean coast. Its geographical location is between 41\u00b016' and 41\u00b030' north latitude and between 1\u00b054' and 2\u00b018' east longitude.\"]}, {'Q': 'What varieties of urban centers did Barcelona exemplify during diverse historical epochs?', 'A': 'The ancient city: a small walled city with natural harbor;\\nMiddle Ages: Political and enconoic center, maritime and commercial axis of the Mediterranean Sea;\\nEarly Modern Age: an artificial port with military engineering works;\\n19th Century:a major industrial and commercial center, colonizing metropolis;\\n20th Century:A continuously expanding city shaped by immigration\uff1b\\n21st Century:?\\nAn urban center committed to fostering innovation, design, technology, and environmental sustainability.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': [\"the main reason for the choice of a small promontory near the coast to build the city was its natural harbor, although the alluvium of the torrents and the sedimentation of sand from the coastal currents would make the port's draught difficult.\", 'At this time Barcelona was constituted as a county and later became part of the Crown of Aragon and the political and economic center of the Principality of Catalonia, becoming an important maritime and commercial axis of the Mediterranean Sea.', 'During the 15th and 16th centuries, an artificial port was built to finally meet the needs of the important mercantile center that was Barcelona.?\\nThe arrival of the Bourbons generated a series of military engineering works, such as the castle of Montju?c and the fortress of the Citadel.', 'Socially, this century saw the massive arrival of immigration to the city, with the consequent increase in population: if in 1900 there were 530 000 inhabitants, in 1930 they had almost doubled (1 009 000 hab), to reach between 1970 and 1980 the maximum peak (1 754 900) and by the end of the century to 1 500 000 inhabitants.', 'In this period there was a great economic revitalization, linked primarily to the textile industry, which in turn led to a Catalan cultural renaissance.?\\nIndustrialization brought about important changes in the urban planning of the city, due to the new needs of the economic sectors of the capitalist system, which required a strong concentration of labor and auxiliary services. Barcelona thus underwent an important leap to modernity, characterized by three factors: the population migration from the countryside to the city, the link between industrial and urban developments, and a better articulation of the territory through a wide network of roads and railroads, which will lead Barcelona to become a colonizing metropolis of its territorial environment.', 'With the turn of the century, the city continued to focus on innovation and design as projects for the future, together with the use of new technologies and a commitment to environmental sustainability.']}, {'Q': 'During the 19th and 20th centuries, which new types of urban transportation emerged in Barcelona?', 'A': 'Railway, tramway, buses, taxis, underground metro.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': ['One of the major factors in the dynamization of the city as the capital of a large metropolitan area was the arrival of the railroad: in 1848, the first railroad line in peninsular Spain left from Barcelona, connecting Barcelona with the town of Matar\u00f3. The stations of Francia (1854), Sants (1854) and Norte (1862) were then created. The Catalan capital became the center of a railway network in the shape of an 8 \u2014the so-called \"Catalan eight\"\u2014 formed by two rings that intersected in the city.', 'It is also worth mentioning the introduction of the tramway for urban transport. In 1860 an omnibus line had been opened along La Rambla, but the slowness of the carriages made this means of transport not very viable.', 'At the beginning of the century the first buses also appeared: in 1906 the first line was created between Pla?a de Catalunya and Pla?a de Trilla, in Gr\u00e0cia, operated by the company La Catalana, with five Brilli\u00e9-Schneider cars.', 'Also at this time the first taxis appeared: in 1910 the first 21 vehicles were licensed; in 1920 there were already a thousand taxis, with 64 stops throughout the city.', 'In the 1920s, urban transport was improved with the construction of the Barcelona Metro.']}]", "output": "None"}
{"input": " Background. The issue of pension reforms has been dealt with by various French governments over recent decades, specifically to tackle budget shortfalls. France has one of the lowest retirement ages for an industrialised country, and spends more than most countries on pensions, with it amounting to almost 14% of economic output. France's pension system is largely built on a \"pay-as-you-go structure\"; both workers and employers \"are assessed mandatory payroll taxes that are used to fund retiree pensions\". This system, \"which has enabled generations to retire with a guaranteed, state-backed pension, will not change\". Compared to other European countries, France possesses \"one of the lowest rates of pensioners at risk of poverty\", with a net pension replacement rate (\"a measure of how effectively retirement income replaces prior earnings\") of 74%, higher than OECD and EU averages.. The New York Times says the government argues rising life expectancy  \"have left the system in an increasingly precarious state\"; \"[i]n 2000, there were 2.1 workers paying into the system for every one retiree; in 2020 that ratio had fallen to 1.7, and in 2070 it is expected to drop to 1.2, according to official projections\". In addition, the cost of pensions has partially contributed to France's national debt rising to 112% of GDP, compared to 98% before the COVID-19 pandemic; this is one of the highest levels in the EU, higher than the UK and Germany. In an interview in March 2023, Macron said that \"when he began working there were 10 million French pensioners and now there were 17 million\". The New York Times add that in order \"[t]o keep the system financially viable without funneling more taxpayer money into it \u2013 something the government already does \u2013 Macron sought to gradually raise the legal age when workers can start collecting a pension by three months every year until it reaches 64 in 2030.\" Additionally, Macron has \"accelerated a previous change that increased the number of years that workers must pay into the system to get a full pension and abolished special pension \u200crules that benefited workers in sectors like energy and transportation\".As part of Macron's pension reforms, the retirement age was to be raised to 64 or 65, from 62.  The pay-as-you-go system \u2013  raising the retirement age would help to further finance, as life expectancy increases and more start work later \u2013 would have a surplus of \u20ac3.2bn in 2022, but the government's pensions advisory board (COR) forecast that it would \"fall into structural deficits in coming decades unless new financing sources are found\". In March 2023, Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt said that \"without immediate action\" the pensions deficit would exceed $13bn annually by 2027. The government stated that the reforms would \"balance the deficit\" in 2030, with a surplus amounting to billions of dollars that would \"pay for measures allowing those in physically demanding jobs to retire early\".The pension reforms have long been under consideration by Macron and his government. Reforming the pension system was a significant part of his platform for election in 2017, with initial protests and transport strikes in late 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic which saw Macron delay the reforms further. Raising the retirement age was not part of these initial reforms, but another \"plan to unify the complex French pension system\" by \"getting rid of the 42 special regimes for sectors ranging from rail and energy workers to lawyers was crucial to keep the system financially viable\".On 26 October 2022, Macron announced that pension reform scheduled for 2023 intended to raise the retirement age to 65, be gradually increased from 62 to 65 by 2031, by three months per year from September 2023 to September 2030. Furthermore, the number of years that contributions would need to be made to qualify for the full state pension would increase from 42 to 43 in 2027, meaning that some may have to work to 67 \u2013 the year at which a person is automatically able to receive a state pension from.In his New Year's Eve speech on 31 December 2022, he clarified that the reforms would be implemented by autumn 2023. In early January 2023 prior to consultation with unions, Prime Minister \u00c9lisabeth Borne spoke on FranceInfo radio, stating that the government could \"show flexibility\" on the intention to raise the retirement age to 65, and were willing to explore \"other solutions\" that would enable the government to \"reach its target of balancing the pensions system by 2030\". She announced that the policy would be presented to cabinet on 23 January and debated in parliament in early February, with full details published on 10 January. Use of Article 49.3. Article 49.3 of the French Constitution allows governments to bypass the National Assembly and force through bills without a vote. However, invoking it triggers a proviso that allows for no-confidence motions to be filed in the government. Because each party tends to only vote for their own motions and against those of others, on only one occasion, in 1962, where the Article has been triggered, the government lost a subsequent no-confidence motion.On 14 March, The Guardian declared that Macron had two options \u2013 broker deals with Les R\u00e9publicains or force the bill through using Article 49.3, \"a measure that avoids an Assembl\u00e9e nationale vote [the government] risks losing\". They said that \"[m]inisters have said the government would not use the 49.3, widely condemned as undemocratic and which risks inflaming a volatile public mood\" and that \"[i]nstead, there has been a flurry of negotiations by ministers to guarantee a majority in the lower house\"; \"[u]nion leaders have said using the 49.3 would lead to a hardening of opposition and would escalate strikes\". On 16 March, it was said \"[m]inutes before MPs in the lower house were to vote, Macron was still holding a series of frantic meetings with senior political figures, and suddenly chose to use special powers instead of risking a vote, which he appeared poised to lose\". The decision to invoke was a \"surprise, last-minute decision\" by Macron, as \"he was not certain of the support of enough lawmakers\" to take the bill to a National Assembly vote.The Guardian explained that 49.3's invoking \"illustrates Macron's difficult position in parliament\", with his parliamentary party/grouping having lost its majority in the National Assembly following the 2022 legislative election. Motivations. The coordination of the strikes by all of France's trade unions has been labelled a \"rare show of unity\", with transport and energy workers, teachers, dockers and public sector workers (such as museum staff) all having gone on strike. Trade unions \"say the reform will penalise low-income people in manual jobs who tend to start their careers early, forcing them to work longer than graduates, who are less affected by the changes.\"Polls have consistently shown that the measures are substantially unpopular, as well as the use of Article 49.3 to enact them without a parliamentary vote in the National Assembly. France 24 reported that a poll from a few days prior to the move suggested around \"eight out of ten people opposed legislating in this way, including a majority of voters who backed Macron in the first round of last year's presidential election\". The American Prospect opined that earlier support from conservative members of the National Assembly for the reforms had faded away as a result of polling that showed the reforms were unpopular. The decision to invoke Article 49.3 was seen by those on the left as a \"a major defeat and a sign of weakness\" for the government, that would now be seen as \"being brutal and undemocratic\"; Antoine Bristielle, a representative of the Fondation Jean-Jaur\u00e8s think tank, commented that using 49.3 is \"perceived as a symbol of brutality\" that could \"erode support both for the government and democratic institutions\". Le Journal du Dimanche reported that Macron's approval ratings hit a low comparable to the Yellow Jackets protests. In a poll spanning 9 to 16 March, 70% of respondents were dissatisfied with him and only 28% were satisfied.It has been suggested that the reforms do not adequately tackle the disadvantage women are at within the workforce, who usually retire later than men and with pensions 40% lower in comparison, attributed to more part-time work and maternity leave. Women are already subject to later retirement due to taking time away from work to raise children. Euronews outlined that the reforms would lead to women retiring later and working, on average, seven months longer over the course of their life, while men would work around five months longer. They quoted Franck Riester, the Minister Delegate for Parliamentary Relations, admitting that women would be \"a bit penalised by the reform\" in January.As well as this, it has been argued the reforms will hit the working-class and those who work in manual jobs disproportionately. CNN pointed out that blue-collar workers are likely to start working at a younger age than white-collar workers; The Washington Post pointed out that a minor part of those employed in 'physically or mentally demanding' jobs are still eligible to retire earlier with a full pension, which Macron previously removed most exceptions for allowing them to depart early in case of work induced disabilties although The New York Times equally pointed to how this was a concession by the government to \"mollify opposition\", which overall has failed because unions view the increase in the retirement age as a \"non-starter\" and was later removed as result of passing the age rise as a financial law. At the other end of the scale, it has been reported that some are concerned about \"being forced to retire later because older adults who want to work but who lose their jobs often face age discrimination in the labor market\".. Those opposed to the reforms argue \"the government is prioritizing businesses and people who are highly paid over average laborers\", and have \"disputed the need for urgency\", The New York Times saying they contest that \"Macron is attacking a cherished right to retirement and unfairly burdening blue-collar workers because of his refusal to increase taxes on the wealthy\". In addition, opponents opine that Macron has \"exaggerated the threat of projected deficits and refused to consider other ways to balance the system, like increasing worker payroll taxes, decoupling pensions from inflation or increasing taxes on wealthy households or companies\", and that \"the official body that monitors France's pension system has acknowledged that there is no immediate threat of bankruptcy and that long-term deficits\", which Macron and the government have argued would occur if these reforms were not implemented, \"were hard to accurately predict\".Jean Garrigues, a historian on France's political culture, theorized the unpopularity of the reforms can be partially attributed to Macron personally, given the \"pre-existing anger against\" him, having \"struggled to shake off the image of an out-of-touch 'president of the rich'\". He said that \"[t]hat's why he has not only all the unions, but also a large part of public opinion against him\", as \"[b]y tying himself to the project, opposition to it is heightened, dramatized in a way.\"It has been criticized for having taken place during a cost-of-living crisis, which some have attributed to worsening the anger and protests over the policies. The Times said that some have \"questioned the political wisdom of going ahead with the reform at a time when the public mood has been soured by high inflation\", as \u20ac7.1 billion of the \u20ac17.7 billion that \"the reform was meant to have saved has been wiped out by modifications to its provisions\". Rioting. The protests gave way to instances of violence and rioting as demonstrators and police forces clashed in the streets. Anti-union degradations. In Chamb\u00e9ry, \"banners, sound systems, flags, and union tunics prepared for the 7 March demonstration went up in smoke\" when fire was set to three vehicles parked in front of the Union hall.  The methods used resembled those used in other degradations in the area in the preceding year, including a swastika and anti-vax slogans spray-painted on the regional health agency (ARS) offices. Black bloc. There were black bloc groups at the front of the demonstrations in Paris, Lyon, and Nantes on May 1. There were between 2000 and 3000 in Paris, 1000 in Lyon (among 2000 the Rh\u00f4ne prefecture identified as \"risky individuals\"), and large numbers were also present in Nantes. Looting. An unauthorized protest on 15 April attracted over 1000 people to downtown Rennes and permitted two men to make off with \u20ac25,000 worth of gold bars and coins from a gold seller's shop. Pre-Article 49.3 invoking. 19 January. On 19 January, the Ministry of the Interior counted 1.12 million demonstrators, including 80,000 in Paris. Over 200 demonstrations were reported in the country.More than one million people took to the streets in Paris and other French towns as part of countrywide protests over proposals to raise the retirement age. Eight of the largest unions participated in the strike over pension reforms. The French Ministry of the Interior said that 80,000 demonstrators gathered in the streets in Paris, where small numbers threw bottles, rocks, and fireworks at riot police. Over 200 demonstrations were reported in the country. According to the unions, 2 million people took part in the demonstrations with 400,000 of them participating in the Paris demonstrations.Despite the demonstrations, Emmanuel Macron emphasized that the pension reforms would go forward. French unions declared that further strikes and protests would be held on 31 January in an effort to halt the government's plans to raise the standard retirement age from 62 to 64. The new law would increase annual pension contributions, from 41 to 43 payments throughout the year. Some flights out of Orly Airport were canceled, while the Eurostar website reported the cancellation of many routes between Paris and London. Though \"a few delays\" were reported at Charles de Gaulle Airport, owing to striking air traffic controllers, no flights were canceled. 21 January. Another demonstration was organized in Paris on 21 January, supposedly long-planned by students and youth organisations.Demonstrations organized by different groups took place in other cities, like in Dinan, Limoges and Lyon. 31 January. Demonstrations were organized around the country with public transport, schools, and electricity production specifically targeted by the strikes. Public television broadcasters were also affected by the strikes, with news broadcasts cancelled and music played instead.According to the CGT union, 2.8 million people took part in the protests while the Ministry of Internal Affairs counted 1.272 million protesters. 7 February. On 7 February, a third day of national protests were held after being called by l'intersyndicale. According to the CGT, 400,000 people demonstrated in Paris, down 100,000 from the 31 of January. In total, over 2,000,000 strikers participated in demonstrations according to the CGT, while the police estimate that around 757,000 strikers participated in protests. 11 February. On 11 February, a fourth day of national protests was held. According to the CGT, over 2,500,000 protesters took part in demonstrations, a rise of 500,000 compared to 7 February, while the Ministry of the Interior claims that 963,000 protested, a rise of over 200,000 compared to 7 February. In Paris, over 500,000 people demonstrated against the reform according to the CGT, while 93,000 demonstrated according to the prefecture. The Intersyndicale called for recurring strikes starting on 7 March. 16 February. On 16 February, protesters joined fresh rallies and strikes. Unions said some 1.3 million people participated nationwide Thursday, the lowest figure since the protest movement started on January 19. The interior ministry put the national figure at 440,000, down from nearly a million on Saturday (11 Feb). On the day, 30 percent of flights from Paris's Orly airport were cancelled. 7 March. In early March, trains around the country continued to be affected by strikes and protests. It is believed that 1.1 to 1.4 million people participated in over 260 protests across the country. As a part of the protest, union members blocked fuel deliveries from being made, with the intention of bringing the French economy to its knees. 11\u201312 March. On Saturday, 11 March, the seventh day of protests was held in response to the National Assembly and Senate debating the draft law, with a final vote expected that month. Macron twice declined meetings with unions that week. About 368,000 people protested, below the 800,000\u20131,000,000 expected. The following day, the Senate passed an initial vote by 195\u2013112. 15 March. On 14 March, The Guardian reported that \"French unions have called for a show of force with a final day of strikes and protests in the run-up\" the vote on the reforms in the National Assembly, which would be the eighth day of national mobilisation sofar. Transport Minister Cl\u00e9ment Beaune said \"there would be disruption to public transport and flights, but it was unlikely to be a \"Black Wednesday\"\", with \"not ... the same level of disruptions as with previous mobilisations\".200 protests were reported to have taken place across the country. There were conflicting numbers of the strength of the protests; the Interior Ministry reported 480,000 marched throughout the country, with 37,000 in Paris, while CGT counted 1.78m and 450,000 respectively. Figures from Le Monde dispute both these claims. Reportedly, French police expected 650,000\u2013850,000 protesters nationwide, fewer than the largest protests the previous week, with preliminary figures demonstrating a lower strike turnout in the energy and transport sectors at midday compared to previous days.Among those who were on strike were train drivers, school teachers, dock workers, oil refinery workers, as well as garbage collectors continuing their now ten-day strike action.In the afternoon, protesters gathered at the Esplanade des Invalides, with \"loud music and huge union balloons\". Police had ordered that the build-up of rubbish to be \"cleared out along the march route\" after some \"used garbage to start fires or throw trash at police in recent demonstrations\". The marchers were \"accompanied by a heavy security force\" as they \"moved through the Left Bank along unencumbered streets\". Police reported that one group of protestors \"attacked a small business\", and that nine people were detained within three hours of the march beginning. The protestors' march ended at the Place d'Italie. Known as \"Greve 15 mars\", it was co-ordinated and organised by eight trade unions.. Liquefied natural gas operations were suspended, with public transport severely affected; it was stated that 40% of high-speed trains and half the regional trains were cancelled, with the Paris M\u00e9tro running slower. The DGAC warned of delays, reporting that 20% of the flights at Paris-Orly airport were cancelled.Elsewhere, in Rennes, Nantes, and Lyon, \"[s]ecurity forces countered violence with charges and tear gas\", according to French media. Demonstrations also took place in Le Havre in Normandy, Nice, and Mulhouse.PBS reported that Interior Minister G\u00e9rald Darmanin had asked Paris City Hall to force some of the garbage workers to return to work, calling the build-up along the streets a \"a public health issue\". Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said that she supported the strike, and in response a government spokesman Olivier V\u00e9ran declared that if she did not comply, the Interior Ministry would be \"ready to act instead\". Use of Article 49.3 and aftermath. 16 March. Use of Article 49.3. Protests erupted after the announcement that the pension reforms would be enacted without a parliamentary vote, Borne invoking article 49:3 of the constitution to do so just \"minutes\" before the scheduled vote on the bill. Inside the National Assembly, opposition MPs on the left booed and jeered the announcement and sang the national anthem in order to prevent Borne from speaking, forcing the session to be briefly suspended before the announcement by Borne was made. Speaking to MPs who were booing her, Borne proclaimed that \"[w]e cannot gamble on the future of our pensions ... The reform is necessary.\"Marine Le Pen announced she would file a no-confidence motion in the government, describing the use of Article 49.3 as \"an extraordinary confession of weakness,\" \"a total failure for the government\", and that Borne should resign. Fabien Roussel of the French Communist Party, who also \"called on street protesters and trade unionists to keep mobilising\", stated that the left was ready to make the same motion; Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure \"accused Macron of deploying a \"permanent coup d'\u00e9tat\" to shove through the legislation\". The Week said that \"Macron and his government insist the reforms are needed to keep the pension system solvent and government borrowing acceptably low\".Politicians from across the political spectrum denounced the move. Conservative MPs, such as those from The Republicans, whom Macron has relied upon for support in votes in the National Assembly, \"rebuke[d] the government, warning that its move would radicalise opponents and undercut the law's democratic legitimacy.\" The Times reported that Macron was thought to have \"hoped earlier on Thursday to hold \u2013 and win \u2013 a parliamentary vote but changed tack after learning that only 35 of the 64 Republican MPs would back the reform, leaving him short of a majority\", quoting Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt, who said that they \"did everything [to have a vote] right up to the last minute\". MoDem MPs, who are aligned with Macron's Renaissance group, said the decision to force the bill through \"was a mistake\"; Erwan Balanant said \"he had left the parliament chamber \"in a state of shock\"\", while \"[o]ther centrist MPs said it was a waste and showed weakness\". Reaction by protesters. In the Place de la Concorde, thousands protested (figures are disputed between 2,000 protesters and 7,000). France 24 reported that it was a \"spontaneous and unplanned rally\", but Le Monde stated that it was \"organized by the union Solidaires and authorized by the administrative court\". La France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon spoke to the crowd, declaring that Macron had gone \"over the heads of the will of the people.\" He also claimed the reform had \"no legitimacy \u2013 neither in parliament, nor in the street\". It is possible that many joined the rally in Paris after being turned away by police from the \"blockade of the Veolia warehouse in Aubervilliers\".. Later, a bonfire was lit, with police armed with shields and batons deploying tear gas in an attempt to clear the square at around 8pm. One police officer was reportedly injured.By nightfall, 120 people were reported to have been arrested, according to Parisian police, \"on suspicion of seeking to cause damage\"; by 11:30pm, the number later rose to 217. Protesters in the Place were observed to have thrown cobbled stones at assembled police before they moved in to break up the groups, using tear gas and water cannons, with smaller sections of protesters running down side streets and setting smaller fires, such as to piles of garbage, and \"caused damage to shop fronts\". Numerous makeshift barricades in Paris streets were set alight.The CGT announced further strikes and demonstrations for 23 March; its head, Philippe Martinez, said that the forcing through of the law \"shows contempt towards the people\", with unions describing the move by the government as \"a complete denial of democracy\". France 24 commented that \"unionists were also out in strength, hailing a moral victory even as they denounced Macron's \"violation of democracy\"\".Protests took place in other cities, such as Rennes, Nantes, Lyon, Toulouse, and Marseille. In the latter, shop windows and bank fronts were smashed, for which \"radical leftist groups\" were partially blamed, with shops looted. Protests in the former three cities were reported to have resulted in clashes between protesters and police, and in Lyon consisted of approximately \"400 people gathered in front of administrative offices, calling for the president to resign\". There had been a brief blockade of the National Library early in the day.The following day, Interior Minister G\u00e9rald Darmanin told RTL Radio that 310 had been arrested in relation to protest action nationwide, with 258 in Paris.Macron made no public comment on 16 March, but AFP reported that \"he told a closed-door cabinet meeting: \"You cannot play with the future of the country.\"\" 17 March. Demonstrations once again took place at the Place de la Concorde, attended by several thousand people \"with chants, dancing and a huge bonfire,\" protesters chanting \"Tax the rich\", before riot police intervened using tear gas to clear the square, after some \"climbed scaffolding on a renovation site, arming themselves with wood\", and \"lobbed fireworks and paving stones at police in a standoff\". On Twitter, a clip of protesters gathered at the Place chanting \"we decapitated Louis XVI and we can start again, Macron\" went viral, with protesters also, more generally, calling for Macron to resign. Broadcaster BFMTV reported that police detained 61 people following the protests. The Times claimed that the protestors' \"ranks were swollen by members of the 'black bloc' \u2013 young masked troublemakers out for a fight\". Notably, head of the 'moderate' CFDT union, Laurent Berger, said that a change in government or Prime Minister \"will not put out this fire, only withdrawing the reform.\"Additionally, Paris's Boulevard P\u00e9riph\u00e9rique was \"disrupted at almost 200 points during peak rush hour\" in the morning, by CGT activists. It was also reported that there was \"escalated strikes\" at refineries, with a blockade of an unspecified refinery in southern France having began earlier in the day. A CGT representative claimed that strikes would \"force the shutdown\" of TotalEnergies' Normandy refinery by the weekend, furthering the industrial action; a rolling strike was already in place there, with strikers continuing to deliver less fuel than normal from other sites. (DW reported on 18 March that CGT had already shut it down by Friday evening, however.) The CGT also announced an extension to picket lines at Electricite de France.Smaller protests and rallies took place in Bordeaux, Toulouse, Toulon and Strasbourg. Specific methods of protest across France reported were street furniture being destroyed, bins set alight, and windows smashed. In Dijon, protesters burned effigies of Macron. Protests also took place in smaller towns like Laval and \u00c9vreux.Earlier in the day, police pepper-sprayed students protesting near Sorbonne University, with some also walking out of lectures. In Lille, the Institute of Political studies was blocked by student protesters. Strikers of the CGT union \"voted to halt production at one of the country's largest refineries by this weekend or Monday at the latest\", having \"already been on a rolling strike at the northern site TotalEnergies de Normandie, and halting production would escalate the industrial action and spark fears of fuel shortages\", with striking workers continuing to \"deliver less fuel than normal from several other sites\". In Bordeaux, \"dozens\" of protesters and demonstrators trespassed onto tracks at the main train station, including CGT unionists, with CGT and NPA flags being flown. In Donges, a roadblock was in place near to the TotalEnergie refinery oil terminals; in Valenciennes, striking workers blocked the entry of a fuel depot while police in riot gear were observed removing tyres from the road near it; striking rubbish collection workers clashed with police at the Ivry-sur-Seine incinerator; and the blockade of the port of Marseille by striking workers of the CGT continued. Unions from SNCF, the national train operator, \"urged workers to continue another continuous strike\".A multi-party no-confidence motion was tabled in the National Assembly earlier in the day. Spearheaded by centrist group Liot, it was co-signed by NUPES, with a total of 91 MPs from five different parliamentary groups signing. Later in the day, National Rally filed a separate no-confidence motion, signed by 81 cross-party MPs; party leader Le Pen said the decision to push through the pension changes was \"a total failure for the government\".On RTL radio, Interior Minister \"warned against what he called the chaos of random, spontaneous street demonstrations\", describing \"[t]he opposition is legitimate, the protests are legitimate, but wreaking havoc is not, and \"denounced the fact that effigies of Macron, Borne and other ministers were burned at a protest in Dijon\" and that \"\"public buildings had been targeted\". Aurore Berg\u00e9, head of Renaissance in parliament, wrote to Darmanin \"asking him to ensure the protection of MPs who feared violence against them\", because \"she would not accept MPs living in \"fear of reprisals\"\". He replied, saying \"police would be vigilant against any violence directed towards lawmakers.\" 18 March. On 18 March, it was announced protests in Paris were banned on the Place de la Concorde, opposite parliament, as well at the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es. Police explained this was due to \"serious risks of disturbances to public order and security\", and said those who did not obey this order could be fined. Nevertheless, a bonfire was lit at the Place de la Concorde, with an effigy of Macron dropped onto it to cheers. Despite this, widespread protests were still reported in Paris, with a rally instead planned for Place d'Italie in southern Paris at 6pm that evening, at which demonstrators chanted, once again, for Macron to resign, and \"Macron is going to break down, we are going to win\". 4,000 were present. Barricades were erected in the streets, rubbish bins were set alight, with the glass on billboards and bus shelters smashed. Barriers used to block the streets and bottles were thrown at riot police, who utilised tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters. 81 arrests were made in the vicinity. protesters who gathered at the Place d'Italie then \"marched toward Europe's biggest waste incineration plant, which has become a flashpoint of tensions\", some setting trash cans alight and chanting mottos \"such as \"the streets are ours\" as firefighter sirens wailed\". Politico, quoting the Ministry of the Interior, later reported 122 had been arrested in Paris, with a total of 169 nationwide.. Police also used tear gas against protesters who started a fire in Bordeaux, as BFMTV showed demonstrations in major cities such as Marseille, Compiegne, Nantes (where around a thousand protested), Brest, and Montpellier, with around 200 protesting in Lodeve in the south of France. In Nice, the political office of the leader of the Republicans, \u00c9ric Ciotti, was ransacked, with tags left that threatened riots if the party refused to support any of the motions of no-confidence in the government. In the afternoon in Nantes, protestors threw bottles at police, who also responded with tear gas; in spite of this, DW described the protests in Nantes, as well as Marseille and Montpellier, as \"mostly peaceful marches\", as did the AP. They reported that in Marseille, protesters eluded police and occupied the main train station for approximately 15 minutes. In Besan\u00e7on, \"hundreds of demonstrators lit a brazier and burned voter cards. In Lyon, some demonstrators tried to break into a town hall and set it alight, with police arresting 36; police claimed that \"\"groups of violent individuals\" triggered clashes\".A spokesperson for TotalEnergies reported that 37% of its operational staff at refineries and depots, such as at Feyzin and Normandy, were on strike. Rolling strikes also continued on railways. Students and activists from the Permanent Revolution collective \"briefly invaded\" the Forum des Halles shopping mall, with banners calling for a general strike and chanting for Paris to \"stand up\" and \"rise up\", and letting off red smoke canisters. A representative of a union representing waste collectors said strikers at three incinerators outside of Paris would allow some trucks through to \"limit the risk of an epidemic\", while police claimed trucks from five depots had restarted work. CGT announced \"strikers were halting production at two refineries over the weekend\".CGT announced the shutdown of France's largest refinery, TotalEnergies' Gonfreville-L'Orcher (Seine-Maritime) site, and \"at least two oil refineries might be shut down starting Monday\". Industry Minister Roland Lescure announced the government could order those striking to return to work in order to help avoid fuel shortages.AP reported that the DGAC had requested 30% of flights at Orly Airport to be cancelled, and 20% in Marseille, for Monday 20 March. 19 March. \"Hundreds\" of protesters were reported in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Lille in the evening. In Marseille, a large bonfire was lit, with a large throng of demonstrators dancing around it.Some neighbourhoods of Paris continued to have collection of waste disrupted; Philippe Martinez from CGT \"urged\" Paris collection workers to continue their now-two-week-long strike. A few hundred people protested outside the Les Halles shopping centre before police moved them on. Early on Sunday, \"dozens\" of union activists marched through a shopping mall in Rosny-sous-Bois, and cars were allowed to pass through the tolls on the A1 and A13 motorways for free during the day. Shutdowns of refineries continued, with reports of petrol queues building up in the south of France; authorities claimed that \"supplies were high enough to avoid shortages\".In response to reports of constituency offices of various MPs being vandalized, Macron \"called the speakers of both houses of parliament to affirm his support for all legislators and said the government was mobilized to \"put everything in place to protect them\" late on 19 March.Macron also made his first public statement since 16 March; issued to AFP, he said that he hoped \"the text on pensions can go to the end of its democratic journey with respect for all\". Bruno Le Maire, the Finance Minister, commented further; \"[t]hose among us who are able will gradually need to work more to finance our social model, which is one of the most generous in the world\". Leader of the Republicans, \u00c9ric Ciotti, said his party would not back the no-confidence motions, as he \"refuses to 'add chaos to chaos'\"; consequently, it was expected that the motions would not pass, as the Republicans act as de-facto kingmakers in the National Assembly, neither Macron's bloc or the other opposition parties combined numbering a majority. NUPES' Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon informed RTL that \"[f]or as long as the 64-year reform is on the table, we have to keep it up, but decried the use of violence, advising protesters to not \"make our struggle invisible with practices that would be turned against us, as \"Macron... is counting on people going too far, so as to profit from a situation of fear.\" The Times reported that, in response to Ciotti's party refusing to support the motions, and that some Republican MPs may not follow their leader's decision, National Rally president Jordan Bardella was attempting to \"persuade more to follow suit by promising his party will not put up candidates against them if the crisis does lead to an election\". 20 March. Morning and afternoon. DW reported, on 18 March, that union leaders were anticipating that some airports would see nearly a third of flights cancelled on 20 March, owing to strike action. easyJet and Ryanair, both British airlines, warned passengers to expect disruption. Ryanair said it was \"expecting possible cancellations and delays on flights to and from France from 20 to 23 March.\" Eurostar announced that trains would run a normal service on 20 and 21 March, but there would be disruption to public transport in Lille on 20 March.In the morning, rubbish piles were set alight around the ring road in Rennes as part of a road blockade, with protesters also blockading waste collection points and the nearby Vern-sur-Seiche oil depot was blockaded. The road blockade was attended by a \"few hundred people\". It began at 6:30am, and led to \"over 15 miles of halted traffic around the city\". Police used tear gas and charged towards protesters who were on the road and in surrounding fields. Shortly before midday, it was announced they had all been lifted. However, a damaged road in Porte de Saint-Malo meant the speed limit was temporarily reduced to 70 kilometers per hour. Crisis24 said that industrial action at oil refineries was \"starting to impact fuel supplies\", with shortages of fuel at stations, \"particularly\" in Marseille and the south of the country. Sky News, on 17 March, stated that garbage collection strikes are set to continue until at least 20 March.SNCF has warned of \"disruption to intercity and regional train services\", with only two out of three trains running on several lines of Paris' RATP network. Crisis24 reported that such disruptions will continue until 23 March, when the national strike will exacerbate service provision.On 17 March, teachers' unions called for strikes in the following weeks, possibly disrupting the baccalaur\u00e9at exams, which begin on 20 March. CFDT's Laurent Berger proclaimed that she wished for no disruption to the exams as they could just worsen the already-high stress levels of the students taking them.39% of TotalEnergie workers were on strike. Le Monde reported that half \"of filling stations lacked one or more fuels in the southeastern region of Provence Alpes C\u00f4te d'Azur, requiring local authorities to limit sales until Thursday\", with prohibition on the filling of jerry cans, and \"many areas\" in the west of the country affected by the continued blockade, and closure, of the Donges refinery. As well as this, they quoted figures from the UFIP oil lobby that 7% of the country's petrol stations were affected by fuel shortages, (up from 4% prior to the weekend; and that only 5\u20138 of 200 storage facilities were blocked) meaning \"people in major cities in particular would be \"suffering\"; this was worse in some areas, as in Marseille, \"around half of petrol stations are reporting shortages, with an estimated 40 per cent completely closed in Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne\", and that \"the Paris region could be hit by shortages at the storage facility of Genevilliers, northwest of the French capital\". The \"collaborative website\" Penurie.mon-essence.fr said that approximately 986 fuel stations were \"plagued by partial shortages\", with 739 out of fuel \"completely\". Olivier Gantois, executive chairman of UFIP, said \"[t]here will only be a shortage if people continue to rush to fill up\", and that \"[i]f customers panic, logistics will fail and we will be out of supply\"; Le Monde added such comments were \"in belief that shortages are the sole result of preemptive purchases on the part of consumers\". No-confidence votes. Aftermath; evening. Spontaneous protests erupted throughout Paris. In the afternoon, those on the streets reacted to the results of the vote by chanting \"Macron d\u00e9mission\" (\"Macron step down\"). In the evening, in Place Vauban, protesters gathered, chanting \"Macron resign!\" and \"Aux armes\" (Take up arms), with police \"push[ing] them back and blocked access to the square\". Barricades were erected along the Rue de Rivoli. In Paris, protesters burned objects such as rubbish bins and bikes.CNN reported \"heavy police presence across the capital as demonstrators moved between locations\", with AP quoting Paris police chief Laurent Nunez, who said the violence was \"caused by groups of up to 300 people quickly moving through the capital\". At least 70 people were arrested in Paris in the evening, which later rose to 234; most were arrested for setting rubbish strewn in the streets alight.. Reuters reported that \"[i]n some of Paris' most prestigious avenues, firefighters scrambled to put out burning rubbish piles left uncollected for days due to strikes as protesters played cat-and-mouse with police\" and \"[u]nions and opposition parties said they would step up protests to try and force a u-turn\". A CGT statement read that \"[n]othing undermines the mobilisation of workers,\" and called for workers to 'step up' industrial action and \"participate massively in rolling strikes and demonstrations.\" Nunez announced that an internal investigation would take place after footage of an officer punching a man walking backwards, causing him to fall to the ground, went viral on French social media.AP said that the protests that took place in cities across France were predominantly \"small\" and \"scattered\", with only some \"degenerating into violence\" late in the day. In Bordeaux, a predominantly-young group of 200\u2013300 people chanted for Macron to resign. A \"couple\" of rubbish bins were set alight, with the gathered protesters chanting \"This will blow up\". Protests were also reported in Dijon, and in Strasbourg where protestors smashed a department store's windows. 287 people in total were arrested nationwide.The office of Prime Minister Borne announced late in the evening that she will \"directly submit the text of the new law to France's Constitutional Council for a review\", and that she hopes that \"all the points raised during the debates can be examined\"; referring, as France 24 says, to the challenges raised by some parliamentarians on the constitutionality of certain measures in the pension reforms. Opponents of the reforms on the left and far-right have submitted requests for review; only once the Constitutional Council has approved the bill can it be formally signed into law, and it can \"reject articles within the measure if they aren't in line with the constitution\", with those opposed saying the text \"as a whole should be rejected\"; Borne's office added that the referral was to \"accelerate the process\". Furthermore, she \"expressed the government's 'solidarity'\" towards the 400 police officers who were injured in recent days, with 42 alone overnight. The Constitutional Council has a month to \"consider any objections\" to the bill. 21 March. On 21 March, Macron announced he does not intend to dissolve the National Assembly for new elections, reshuffle the government, or call a referendum for \"a reform he considers necessary for the survival of the system\", nor intends to withdraw the reforms. This was reasserted by Prime Minister Borne and Labor Minister Dussopt in Parliament; additionally, Borne said the government would attempt to involve the public and unions in legislating more in future, though offered no details as to how, and the two both agreed they had \"devoted as much time to dialogue on the pension bill as possible\". Macron, instead, plans to use a TV interview on 22 March to \"calm things down\" and plan and prepare for further reforms to take place over the rest of his term in office. Reuters reported on 21 March of the unease within the parties that Macron is aligned, or close, to, and that the President should not be \"continuing business as usual amid violent protests and rolling strikes that represent the most serious challenge to the centrist president's authority since the \"Yellow Vest\" revolt\". Gilles Le Gendre, a senior Renaissance MP, said that \"the president, the government and the majority ... are all weakened\" and that \"it's not because the law was adopted that we can do business as usual\". Also of Renaissance, Patrick Vignal \"bluntly urged the president to suspend the pension reform bill\" due to \"the anger it has triggered, and its deep unpopularity\".Reuters quoted Eurointelligence analysts, who said Macron has two choices: \"[p]retending that nothing major happened and letting the crisis wear itself out, or pursuing co-habitation with the willing in the assembly. Given Macron's nature, we see him being more attracted to the first option. A risky bet.\"On 20 March, CNN reported that \"[a]uthorities in charge of civil air traffic asked airlines to cancel 20% of their flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Air France warned of flight cancellations in the upcoming days\".Police \"were sent in the early hours of Tuesday to unblock the oil terminal of Donges ... which had been occupied for a week by strikers. The Ministry of Energy Transition \"also announced the requisition of \"three employees per shift\" at an oil storage facility in Fos-sur-Mer\", due to \"worsening supply tensions\"; they clarified that \"[t]he requisition is valid for 48 hours as needed, starting March 21,\" and relates to \"personnel essential to the operation of the storage facility\"\".\"Hundreds\" of workers have blocked access to the gas depots in a town near Marseille, with strikes at multiple refineries across western and southern France, \"partially disrupt[ing]\" oil shipments. Striking workers clashing with police at ExxonMobil's Fos-sur-Mer oil refinery, as the Energy Transition Ministry announced it would need employees \"indispensable to the functioning\" of the depot to return to work. \"Scuffles broke out\", with protesters joining strikers in response to the news. Protestors attempted to block access to the site, some \"intermittently thr[owing] objects\" such as stones at police, which used tear gas to try to disperse the demonstrators. AP added that the depot supplies fuel for southeastern France gas stations, which are currently most afflicted by shortages; government spokesman Olivier Veran \"warned that more orders may follow in the coming days for other sites\". In Paris, police Paris announced they had ordered rubbish collectors back to work to \"ensure a 'minimum service'; this will cover 674 staff, with 206 garbage trucks resuming operation.The Guardian, in an article dated 21 March, detailed activity at a blockaded incineration plant in Ivry-sur-Seine, south of Paris. A \"crowd of students gathered to support the strikers\" at the depot, with only \"a slow dribble of very few rubbish trucks ... now passing each day\" there. The blockade has been ongoing since at least 14 March, with some strikers and their supporters having attended as early as 5am over the course of the action.In the morning, police had evacuated Paris 1 Panth\u00e9on-Sorbonne University's Tolbiac campus, having been previously blockaded and barricaded by students (which has notorious precedent in that regard); an attendee mentioned that many young students there had spoken of their experiences of police violence. Outside the \u00c9cole Duperr\u00e9 art school, students had \"piled up a barricade of bins\", with signs saying that the decision to raise the retirement age \"would be met with a new May 1968\"; one student interviewed said she was too frightened of being the victim of police violence at night to demonstrate at that time of day. Skips were set alight during a protest in Rennes. 22 March. At lunchtime, Macron gave a televised interview, questioned by journalists from TF1 and France 2.  He called the reform not a \"luxury\" or a \"pleasure\", but a \"necessity\", and that he did not \"enjoy passing this reform\", and \"had a responsibility not to leave the issue alone despite its unpopularity\". Of the protests, he \"said protesters had a right to take to the streets and their anger had been taken into account, but it was not acceptable when they resorted to violence without any rules whatsoever\", and he insisted he had continued confidence in Prime Minister Borne, and regrets \"not succeeding in convincing people of the necessity of the reform\".The CGT and CFDT union heads responded; of the former, Philippe Martinez said that the interview was \"outlandish\", and \"had taken millions of protesters for fools in claiming his reforms were the only alternative\", and adding that \"[t]he best response we can give the president is to have millions of people on strike and in the streets tomorrow,\" while Laurent Berger of the latter accusing Macron of \"rewriting history and lying to hide his failure to secure a majority in parliament\", with specific regard to his comments unions had not offered an alternative to the bill. Berger was quoted as having \"scolded\" the president for \"for seeking to portray the pension dispute as a tussle \"between one responsible (man) and a group of irresponsibles\"\". Marine Le Pen said \"she would not play \"any part in putting out the fire\" as the president was the only one who had the keys to a political crisis he had himself created\", and, pointing out that the interview being broadcast during lunchtime news programmes mostly watched by pensioners \u2013 which Reuters stated was \"the only demographic that is not dead set against the reform\" \u2013 was an example of Macron's \"disdain for workers\", and how \"[h]e insults all French people, in general, all those who ... are protesting\".Striking workers briefly blocked trains during a demonstration at  Nice and  Toulouse.Additionally, it was reported that 13% of petrol stations are undergoing fuel shortages due to oil refinery blockades, and that \"almost half the pumps in the Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne area of the south have run dry\". Unions also said that \"up to half of primary school teachers would go on strike as part of Thursday's day of action but demonstrations were continuing on Wednesday, including outside the southern port of Marseille-Fos\". News.com.au reported that \"[m]ajor fuel shortages are also impacting service stations across the country due to protesters blocking major locations, with the biggest nationwide protest on record for France recorded this week, with rallies held in more than 200 separate areas\". 23 March. CGT had announced on 16 March that the unions planned another day of strikes and demonstrations for 23 March, the ninth day of nationwide industrial action since the pension reform strikes began. The largest protest was expected to be in Paris, with demonstrators departing from Place de la Bastille at 2pm, marching through the city via Place de la R\u00e9publique, and arriving at Place de l'Op\u00e9ra at 7pm. Strike action. Public transport was severely impacted by strikes. Only two Paris metro lines were running normal service. By late morning, there was large disruption to rail services across France, with SNCF saying that only one-in-three regional TER trains and one-in-two TGV or Ouigo services running. At Gare de Lyon train station, several hundred unionists and strikers demonstrated on the railway tracks. An unofficial protest in front of Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle Airport blocked vehicle access. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation warned of disruption to flights at Paris-Orly, Marseille-Provence, Lyon and Toulouse. Around 30% of flights at Paris Orly Airport were cancelled, and flight services were expected to be reduced through the weekend.The Snuipp-FSU union said 40\u201350% of primary school teachers were on strike, with strong walkouts anticipated in Paris and departments such as Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne, Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es-Orientales and Haute-Vienne. The Education Ministry stated that about 24% of primary and middle school teachers walked off the job, as well as 15% in high schools. Exam supervisors also went on strike, disrupting baccalaur\u00e9at exams, with over half a million students impacted.Workers voted to strike at an LNG terminal in Dunkirk, reducing output to the minimum. Amid oil refinery and depot blockades, 14% of petrol stations were experiencing shortages of at least one type of fuel, with 7% dry. The impact varied nationwide, with reports suggesting that 40 out of 96 departments are affected, particularly in the north in Brittany and Normandy, as well as the Mediterranean coast. The government mandated minimum staffing at all depots.The entrance to Paris-Panth\u00e9on-Assas University, widely considered the top law school of France, was barricaded; France 24 commented this was \"a sign of just how broad the protest movement has become\". Major tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Versailles Palace were closed to the public. Protests. The Independent claimed over \"12,000 police officers have taken positions in French streets with 5,000 in Paris, as authorities brace for the biggest strike action\".Numbers of demonstrators vary. The Interior Ministry said up to 1.08m took part in protests across France, with 119,000 in Paris; the latter is the highest number to have protested in Paris since the strikes and protests related to the reforms began in January. The CGT union, meanwhile, claimed 3.5m nationwide, and 800,000 in Paris.. Demonstrations in Paris began at the Place de la Bastille at 2pm local time. ITV News reported in the early afternoon that it was \"currently the site of a large demonstration\", and also that \"[h]uge crowds have started marching in the major cities of Marseille, Lyon, Paris and Nantes as more than 250 protests were organised across the country\".Philippe Martinez, head of the CGT union said that \"[t]here is a lot of anger, an explosive situation\" at the start of a rally in Paris, as Reuters claimed that union leaders had \"called for calm but were angry with what they called Macron's \"provocative\" comments\". Posters along the route of the demonstrations in Paris included those demanding a return to the retirement age of 60, and depicting Macron as Louis XVI. A heavy presence of \"[h]eavily armed riot police\" was reported. At around 2:40pm GMT, journalist Lewis Goodall claimed that \"[t]he main demonstration route [in Paris] is full [and so] they're now filing onto every side street\". He quoted the CGT union's claims that 800,000 were demonstrating in Paris. At around 4:05pm GMT, he tweeted that French TV were reporting 14 were arrested so far, presumably in Paris.. BBC News said \"the vast majority\" of protests \"passed off without violence\", but in the afternoon, \"violent clashes\" were reported to have \"broken out in parts of Paris\", riot police having used tear gas as 'black bloc' protesters were reported to have thrown fireworks, bottles and stones at police and set bins alight. Riot police were also observed using baton charges on the Grands Boulevards. At other times on the march, fires in the streets ignited some of the uncollected piles of rubbish, with some small fires \"visible from the junction of Rue Saint-Fiacre and Boulevard Poissonni\u00e8re\".. Mid-afternoon, clashes between police and protesters in Paris had grown more intense. On the Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, one BFMTV report said \"the atmosphere has changed completely\" and that \"[w]e didn't expect it to get out of hand so quickly\". BFMTV also reported that there were at least 350\u2013400 'black bloc' protesters, using \"big\" fireworks, and at point targeting a Strasbourg-St Denis McDonald's restaurant. A reporter claimed that police are deploying tear gas to push back the crowds, but it was ineffective due to the large number of people attending the protest. The police estimated that there were 1,000 protestors engaged in violence.By 5pm local time, demonstrators in Paris had converged on the Place de l'Op\u00e9ra. Firecrackers and bins set alight around Avenue de l'Op\u00e9ra were reported. At around 5:20pm, it was reported that that police on motorbikes had arrived in the Opera area. Known as the Motos Brav-M, it is a \"controversial police unit\", as \"some have accused [them] of using excessive force\". They were \"booed and hissed\" at as they \"passed further away down Boulevard de l'Op\u00e9ra\". By 6pm, \"most people [were] now dispersing\", but \"low-level clashes between police and small groups of rioters [who have] been throwing stones and starting fires\" persisted. Up to 5,000 security staff were put on duty in Paris for the day. 320 protests were planned across the country, with the biggest demonstrations in the southern towns of Marseille, Nice, and Toulon; in the former two, \"thousands of protesters\" demonstrated. Marseille's port was blockaded by demonstrators for a second consecutive day. In Lyon, \"hundreds of railway workers, students and others have taken to the tracks disrupting trains\". In Normandy, \"thousands\" turned out in Rouen, Caen, Le Havre and Dieppe. In Rouen, riot police used tear gas against some protesters throwing stones, and in Rennes, used both tear gas and water cannons as \"some masked protesters\" erected barricades\". In Nice, protesters converged on the city centre, before marching to the airport and forming a blockade.Yahoo! quoted local media that stated almost 10,000 were marching in Tours, where protesters blocked train tracks and caused disruption to train departures. Smoke was observed rising from burning debris that blocked traffic on a Toulouse highway, as \"wildcat strikes briefly blocked roads in other cities\". Police fired tear gas at protesters in Nantes, where also \"a group of activists stormed the administrative court\", and used water cannons in Rennes.. In Lorient, a local newspaper reported that projectiles were thrown into the yard of the police station, having \"triggered a brief fire\", with claims that multiple police officers had been \"violently attacked\". A local prefecture office also \"came under attack\" in the town, The Times claiming that activists \"sought to storm a government building and to set fire to the town's police station\". Interior Minister G\u00e9rald Darmanin responded on Twitter: \"The attacks on and defacing of the subprefecture and the police station in Lorient are unacceptable. Thoughts with the injured officers. These acts cannot go unpunished.\"The Independent reported that a \"video on social media showed several trucks dumping tyres, rubbish and manure in front of council offices in several locations\", and \"[h]ighways were blocked with barriers of burning wood and tyres as protesters raised slogans\".The Palais Rohan in Bordeaux was set on fire by protesters, affecting the front door, though the fire was put out promptly by firefighters.. In the evening, Interior Minister Darmanin made a statement where he declared that there had been an attempt to kill police officers by some protesters. BBC News and France 24 claim he announced 123 police officers had been injured nationwide, while an independent journalist said he claimed 149 had been injured in Paris alone. In Paris, one officer was \"dragged to safety while unconscious, as he and his colleagues came under fire from fireworks and other missiles. The officer appeared to have been hit on the head\". In Rouen, a young woman was reported to have lost her thumb after hit by a 'flash ball' grenade used by police to try and disperse protesters \u2013 Damien Adam, Renaissance MP for the area, \"says it's \"clearly unacceptable\" and he wants a police inquiry to find out what happened\" \u2013 and police confirmed two officers were injured after missiles were thrown at them. LFI officials have \"complained that six protesters had been hurt by police tear gas and stun grenades and wants to know what orders officers were given\".Darmanin claimed over 80 people had been arrested so far. Shortages of firefighters in the evening meant that local residents themselves had to put out fires themselves; Darmanin claimed 140 fires needed to be put out in Paris, with 50 still burning at the time (approximately 8:30pm GMT).In the afternoon, union heads Berger and Martinez spoke out. Berger appealed for non-violence, for the \"respect of property and people\", for \"non-violent actions that don't handicap people's daily lives\". Martinez claimed Macron was blamed for the actions of protesters and demonstrators, saying he had \"thrown a can of petrol on the fire\". Hugh Schofield of BBC News said that unions and the left \"are calling the day a success, with once again a large turn-out of people showing their rejection of Macron's pension bill\". 28 March. On 28 March, a tenth day of protests was estimated at 740,000 attendees by the French government and 2 million by unions. Prime Minister Borne declined formal mediation, but agreed to talks with eight leading union leaders the following week, when an eleventh day of protest was planned. 6 April. The union leaders' meeting with Borne on 5 April ended after about an hour after both sides insisted that the pension reform must respectively be cancelled or remain. Union leaders exiting the meeting called for an eleventh day of protests to go ahead the following day. According to French authorities, between 600,000 and 800,000 demonstrators were expected, with 60,000 to 90,000 in Paris. According to the French Interior Ministry, 111 arrests were made and 154 police officers were injured. Protesters started a fire at Caf\u00e9 de la Rotonde, one of Macron's favourite restaurants, and other protesters stormed the office buildings of BlackRock and Natixis Investment Managers. 14 April. On 14 April, the Constitutional Council delivered its verdict on the pension bill, declaring it to be compatible with the Constitution. Prior to the ruling being made public, French Prime Minister \u00c9lisabeth Borne had said that the proposal was \"nearing the end of its democratic process,\" and said there were \"no winners or losers.\" Macron signed the bill later that same day. Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt said the government is already working hard to implement the changes by 1 September. Before the Constitutional Council's decision, Macron invited labour unions to meet with him. The unions rejected Macron's invitation, noting that he had refused their previous offers of a meeting, and called for mass new protests on 1 May, International Workers Day. 17 April. On 17 April, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to a government action plan in the next 100 days to decrease anger over the pension reform. Macron had also acknowledged the anger over the increasing prices jobs that didn't \"allow too many French people to live well\". Macron also stated that he wanted the Prime Minister, \u00c9lisabeth Borne, to take measure on work, law and order, education, and health conditions and issues. 19 April. During Emmanuel Macron's tour of France, protesters gathered in Muttersholtz, wearing CGT vests and held unwelcoming signs and banners, including one banner which threatened to cancel the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics if Macron did not withdraw the pension reform. The protesters, who banged pots and pans in order to be heard, were pushed back by police in numerous locations across the country. 20 April. Continuing his tour, Emmanuel Macron was jeered by crowds in eastern France in S\u00e9lestat, in Alsace. Locals chanted for Macron to resign and some heckled him. Macron noted that the incidents would not stop him from making visits across France. 1 May. After the calling for mass new protests on International Workers' Day, clashes erupted between protesters and security forces on 1 May. French President Emmanuel Macron was greeted with pot-bashing and jeers as he toured the country. During the tour, Macron thanked the French workers to their contributions to the nation, however he did not mention the ongoing protests. Effigies of Macron and Interior Minister G\u00e9rald Darmanin were abused or burned across France, including the city of Strasbourg. In Paris, windows were broken at banks and estate agents, projectiles were thrown at law enforcement, including one who was hit with a Molotov cocktail, suffering severe burns to his face and hands. Tear gas was deployed by police officers in the cities of Toulouse and Nantes, and property damage occurred in Nantes, Lyon, and Marseille. That day, 2.3 million people protested according to the protest organizers, while 800,000 protesters were estimated by French authorities. 108 police officers were injured in the clashes, 19 seriously injured in Paris, and 291 protesters were arrested. 2 May. After the May Day protests, French trade unions on 2 May announced a new day of nationwide protests against Macron's pension reform, setting the future protests on June 6. The next round marks the 14th wave of protests since the signing of the reform. The government responded that it wanted to \"move on\" to other issues and stated that it will send invitations to the unions for talks, and that the government would use it to reaffirm their opposition to the pension reform and work on proposals to improve workers' conditions. 3 May. On 3 May, France's Constitutional Council rejected a second bid for pension referendum by political opponents. The council issued a statement stating that the proposed referendum failed the legal criteria, which was defined in the constitution, and it also failed to address the required reform regarding social policy. As a result, protests ensued, including some in the financial district of Paris. While the protests continued, Nasser Kanaani, spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, called on the French government to refrain from violence against protesters. 8 May. While Macron celebrated Victory Day, law enforcement banned gatherings in Paris and Lyon. In Lyon, several streets were closed to traffic, public transportation was disrupted, and some parking was prohibited. Despite the restrictions, protests and bangs of pots and pans followed, in which authorities responded with tear gas being spread. Clashes also erupted at Montluc prison, where Macron paid tribute to a leading resistance figure, Jean Moulin, when protesters attempted to break through a riot police cordon, who were deployed to keep them away from the French president. 19 May. Hospital workers protested in front of Carlton Cannes Hotel on 19 May, violating the ban on protests throughout most of the city. 21 May. Dozens of protestors gathered in Gannes in the outskirts of Cannes Film Festival on 21 May. Local authorities ordered a ban on protests throughout most of the city. 6 June. 280,000 protesters marched on 6 June, while strikes forced Orly Airport to cancel one-third of its flights that day. Protesters also stormed the headquarters of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, briefly occupying the headquarters building, however no damage occurred. 11,000 law enforcement officers were deployed, including 4,000 in Paris. General impact and analysis. Concerns over increasing violence. Multiple outlets, including media and unions, have grown concern over the increasing use of violence in the protests, particularly in the days since the government invoked Article 49.3, with comparisons made to the Gilets jaunes (Yellow Vests) protests of the first years of Macron's presidency. On 19 March, The Guardian commented that as \"police brace[d] for a week of unpredictable, spontaneous protests in cities and small towns across France, the mood of anger was likened to the start of the gilets jaunes protests\". On 20 March, Reuters also voiced that the tone of the protests had deteriorated to, and were \"reminiscent\" to, that of the Yellow Vest protest in recent days. Euronews, on 21 March, claimed that \"government insiders and observers have raised fears that France is again heading for another bout of violent anti-government protests\". On 22 March, Reuters outlined that \"[p]rotests against the bill have drawn huge crowds in rallies organised by unions since January\", of which \"[m]ost have been peaceful, but anger has mounted since the government pushed the bill through parliament without a vote last week\"; \"[t]he past six nights have seen fierce demonstrations across France with bins set ablaze and scuffles with police\".France 24 commented that unions had been \"united in coordinating their protests\", but that \"many expressed fears they could lose control of the protests as more radical demonstrators set the tone\". Fabrice Coudour, a leading representative for the 'hard-left' CGT, commented that \"tougher action ahead, more serious and further-reaching\" was possible that could \"escape our collective decision-making\". Jean-Marie Pernot, a political scientist specialising in trade unions, said that a lack of \"respect [for] any of the channels meant for the expression of dissent, it will find a way to express itself directly\". One of the Yellow Vests' \"prominent spokesmen\", Jerome Rodrigues, spoke to protesters outside the National Assembly after the invoking of Article 49.3 on 17 March, that \"the objective was now nothing less than \"the defeat\" of the president.\"Head of the UNSA trade union federation, Lauren Escure, admitted that \"when there is this much anger and so many French people on the streets, the more radical elements take the floor\", and that it was not something they would want, but was inevitable, and \"will be entirely the government's fault,\" he told AFP. The heads of two 'moderate' unions, Cyril Chabanier of CFTC and Laurent Berger of CFDT, expressed that unions were concerned. Cabanier said that an impression that \"it is just violence that pays\" was being created, and that \"[t]here are some people who are very angry, [and] the anger leads to greater radicalisation and radicalisation unfortunately leads to violence\". Berger has been reported as having warned the government that protests could grow more violent if those protesting begin to feel that the Yellow Vests, in France 24's words, \"achieved more with violence than established unions with their peaceful, mass demonstrations\". Berger told RMC radio, alongside his demand for the reforms to be \"withdrawn\", that his union \"condemn[s] violence\", but added \"look at the anger. It's very strong, even among our ranks\".On 19 March, The Guardian reported that \u2013 alongside the leader of the Republicans' office being vandalised \u2013 other MPs from the party were \"receiving hundreds of threatening emails a day\". Fr\u00e9d\u00e9rique Meunier told BFMTV that \"[i]t's as if tomorrow they want to decapitate us\", and that the emails being received \"amounted to harassment\". The constituency offices of Renaissance MPs \u2013 the party from which Macron originates \u2013 were also targeted. BBC News's Paris correspondent, Hugh Schofield, on 22 March, said that the protests in recent days had been \"spectacular, sometimes, visually\" but \"not huge in terms of scale\" and \"mostly .. the work of very committed left-wingers, class-warrior types, who are leading the battle\". Natasha Butler of Al Jazeera said the violence in recent days was \"sporadic\". Waste collection strike. A strike by waste collectors began on 6 March, which included a blockade of the city's incinerators. Originally set to last nine days, it was extended by another five on 15 March. As of 15 March, \"bin lorries [were] grounded at depots and at least three waste incinerators in the Paris area [were] at a standstill\".The impact of the waste workers' strike has left thousands of tonnes of rubbish uncollected on the streets of Paris. On 17 March, it was estimated the amount was 10,000 tonnes, up from 7,600 earlier in the week. Interior Minister G\u00e9rald Darmanin said that \"strikers were being forced back under emergency powers designed to safeguard essential services\", and from the morning of 17 March told RTL radio that \"requisitioning is working and bins are being emptied\", although this was disputed by an aide of Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo. Hidalgo has maintained her support for the strikers despite efforts by government to break it, with the deputy mayor in charge of waste, Colombe Brossel, commenting that \"any demand to force strikers back to work would be \"an attack on the constitutional right to strike\".\"Paris' municipal waste collectors started its strike and blockade of the city's incinerators twelve days earlier; the proposed pension reforms would raise their retirement age from 57 to 59. Waste collection in Paris is split around half-and-half between them and private companies, who remained in operation with some taking contracts to operate in areas worst hit by the strike action; such as the ninth district, whose mayor, Delphine Burkli, suggested \"calling in the army to clear the streets.\"Waste collection strikes also affected Antibes, Rennes, and Le Havre.On 18 March, the mayor of Paris' 12th district, Emmanuelle Pierre-Marie, said that the priority was food waste in the streets \u2013 AP describing the \"uncollected garbage\" as having \"become a visual and olfactory symbol of the actions to defeat the president's pension reform plan\" \u2013 \"because it is what brings pests to the surface\" and that they \"are extremely sensitive to the situation. As soon as we have a dumpster truck available, we give priority to the places most concerned, like food markets.\" It was claimed that police had \"requisitioned garbage workers to clean up some neighborhoods\".As of 19 March, Philippe Martinez from CGT had \"urged\" Paris collection workers to continue their now-two-week-long strike.The strike was suspended on 29 March due to declining participation, partly due to requisitions order by the Paris police. Actions of police (violent behaviour; outcome of arrests). Euronews reported that, of the 292 arrested after the protests on 16 March only nine were \"charged with actual offences\". Additionally, they have reported that many who just happened to be passing by were taken into custody, some without a \"clear reason why\", with French media reporting two Austrian children on a school trip were taken into custody after the 16 March protests, only released following intervention by the Austrian Embassy.. On 17 March, 60 people were taken into custody, with 34 cases closed, 21 with another result (such as a caution or warning), with just five ending up at trial. Coline Bouillon, a lawyer who represented some demonstrators, told Euronews that a large group of people who had been at a conference were \"rounded up\", police justifying the arrests for their \"participation in a group with a view to preparing violence\", or \"concealing their faces\"; they were remanded in custody for one to two days; she, among a group of lawyers, intend to \"file a collective complaint against the police for \"arbitrary detention\" and \"obstruction of the freedom to demonstrate\".\"Such \"arbitrary police custody\", \"mass-arrest\", tactics have been accused \u2013 by politicians, judges and lawyers alike \u2013 of being utilised \"simply to frustrate the protest movement\", it being perceived, through precedent (such as in the gilet jaunes protests), as a \"repression of the social movement\". This view was shared by a judges' union, the Syndicat de la Magistrature (SM), with Rapha\u00ebl Kempf, a French lawyer in judiciary repression methods, commenting that it was the first time the government had used \"criminal law to dissuade demonstrators from demonstrating and exercising their freedom,\" said Rapha\u00ebl Kempf, a French lawyer specialising in judiciary repression methods\". Fabien Jobard, research director at France's National Scientific Research Centre CNRS, said that a \"judicialisation of policing\" has taken place over the past 15 years, with specific reference to a 2010 law that created the offence of \"participation in a group with a view to committing violence or damage\"; its original remit of mitigating against 'gang violence' and at sporting venues has been expanded to protests and demonstrations.According to Le Monde critics are expressing concerns over the \"violent confrontations and the systematic use of arrests\" at rallies.On 20 March,  on television, police were seen momentarily firing tear gas and rushing at demonstrators in several cities, with special motorbike officers thrusting through protesters, which made Cl\u00e9ment Voule, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association, respond on Twitter by stating that officers should avoid using disproportionate force.On 21 March, an Interior Ministry spokesperson commented that \"there are no unjustified arrests\", and people are questioned for \"offences which, in our eyes, are constituted\" and \"48 hours (of police custody) to try to process the offence is short\". AFP was told by a senior police source that instructions have not been given to conduct mass arrests, adding \"when high-risk profiles are arrested, they are no longer agitating others\"; another officer added that with such a high number of arrests, the \"manoeuvre is risky\", as they \"expose the workforce, monopolise officers\" and \"risk radicalising the demonstrators\".On 21 March, The Guardian reported that the \"police watchdog is investigating allegations that four young women in Nantes were sexually assaulted during police controls at a demonstration last week\". On 23 March, British journalist Lewis Goodall, covering the demonstrations in Paris, reported that police were \"on pretty brutal form\" \u2013 stating a member of his team had been targeted by police despite asserting they were press \u2013 and were also throwing their stun grenades with \"abandon\". During the protests of the 23 March, hundreds of officers were injured across France. However, as BBC News wrote, protesters were also injured by police stun grenades, and the Council of Europe declared that there was no justification for \"excessive force\" by authorities. Political ramifications. Macron's proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 has been compared to former President Nicolas Sarkozy's 2010 reform that raised the retirement age from 60 to 62, which also led to massive strikes and protests across France. Public opinion polling analysis has shown that Sarkozy's push for reform played a role in driving voters to both the Socialist Party and the far-right National Front in the 2012 presidential election.One author of a paper in academic journal West European Politics tweeted a screenshot of the results of a study that showed executive approval has historically fallen after no-confidence votes, and linked it to what the impact of invoking Article 49.3 could be. The Guardian touched on political dissatisfaction, comparing the protests to that of the gilet jaunes, which \"were initially against fuel tax rises but evolved to encompass a wider lack of trust in the political system\". Antoine Bristielle, from the Fondation Jean-Jaures think tank, opined that the invoking of Article 49.3 could be \"perceived as a symbol of brutality\" and could \"erode support both for the government and democratic institutions\". Hypothetical alternatives. Many theorised that in the aftermath of the pension reforms controversy, Macron would fire Prime Minister Borne, such as \"to try and reset his image\", while prominent figures of opposition parties suggested using a referendum, and put the decision to implement the reforms to voters.Prior to the no-confidence votes (which failed and thus the pension reforms entered into law), France 24 outlined the alternatives. They contended that the votes were likely to fail, even the one tabled by the centrist group LIOT which was most likely to attract transpartisan support \u2013 unless enough members of the Republicans broke ranks and voted in favour (which did not happen) \u2013 and the potential consequence of the National Assembly being dissolved and fresh elections being triggered (which Macron has at his disposal regardless) was also unlikely. Failure of the no-confidence votes leaves attempts to hold a referendum as one other option, known as a r\u00e9f\u00e9rendum d'initiative partag\u00e9e (a shared-initiative referendum, or RIP); it requires the support of one-fifth of both the National Assembly and Senate, as well as the signatures of a tenth of the electorate, which need to be collected within nine months. However, it was pointed out that the triggering of an 'RIP' would need to have been done \"before the enactment of the law\"; yet, according to St\u00e9phane Peu, deputy of the Communist Party Deputy, NUPES has had the support of the necessary 185 National Assembly members since 14 March, two days before the invoking of Article 49.3; he said his bill would include language that stated \"the retirement age cannot exceed 62\". The Times, on 19 March, wrote that the process being started would lead to the pension reforms being unable to be introduced until the referendum took place, \"thwarting Macron's plans to start bringing in the changes from September and casting a shadow over the government's other work.\"Furthermore, it was announced that members of NUPES would appeal to the Constitutional Council; a deputy of the LIOT group said on 14 March that had the bill passed by vote in the National Assembly, \"several appeals\" would have been made. France 24 said that NUPES would \"argue that the reform, which was inserted into the social security budget, is a legislative rider, since the text addresses more than just finances\", and that \"[l]eft-wing deputies intend to rely on the opinion of France's Conseil d'\u00c9tat (Council of State), which had warned the government of a risk that certain measures in its pension reform plan, as well as the plan's lack of clear calculations, were unconstitutional\".On 21 March, Macron declared he would not dissolve the National Assembly or call a referendum on the reforms. Postponement of Charles III's state visit. On 3 March, it was announced that King Charles III and Queen Camilla, would visit France between 26 and 29 March. However, in the week leading up to the scheduled visit, many news organizations began to report that the King's visit could be disrupted by the ongoing protests.The optics for the trip were criticised. The author of a biography of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Stephen Clarke, said it was \"very bad timing\", and that while the people of France would \"normally ... welcome a British king\", \"in this moment, people protesting are on high alert for any sign of privilege and wealth\"; Associated Press (AP) commented that \"what was meant to be a show of bonhomie and friendship ... instead ... is being seen as an unnecessary display of hereditary privilege\". He added that the King and Queen Consort's plans to attend a \"lavish dinner at the former royal residence, the Versailles Palace\", \"does not look good\", and \"seems very 1789\". Associated Press clarified that the \"lavish Versailles, once the dazzling center of royal Europe, is a potent symbol of social inequalities and excess\". The Daily Telegraph reported that the banquet, intended to take place on 27 March, could be cancelled or moved.EELV MP Sandrine Rousseau called for the trip to be cancelled, asking if \"the priority [is] really to receive Charles III at Versailles? Something is taking place within French society... the priority is to go and talk to society which is rising up.\"On 23 March, Associated Press reported how the CGT's members at Mobilier National (the institution in charge of providing flags, red carpets and furniture for public buildings) \"would not help prepare a Sunday reception for the king upon his arrival in Paris\"; in response, the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace said \"non-striking workers would set up the necessary accoutrements for the trip\". On 23 March, unions called for their tenth day of nationwide action for 28 March, coinciding with the last full day of the state visit.On 24 March, at the request of the French Government, the state visit was postponed. Macron reportedly decided it would no longer be feasible or appropriate for the visit to take place once unions announced the tenth day of national walkouts on the 28 March, during the state visit. \u00c9ric Ciotti, leader of the Republicans said the cancellation brought \"shame on our country\", while M\u00e9lenchon was of an opposing mood, \"delighted\" that the \"meeting of kings at Versailles\" had been broken up, and that \"the English knew that France's interior minister was pathetic on security\". The visit was rescheduled for some time in the summer, \"when things calm down again\". International reactions. Iran condemned what it called France's repression of protests. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said \"We call on the French government to respect human rights\" and further added \"instead of creating chaos in other countries, listen to the voice of your people and avoid violence against them.\"France's Human Rights League has accused the authorities of disproportionate and dangerous use of public force, undermining citizens' right to protest. The league's president said \"The authoritarian shift of the French state, the brutalisation of social relations through its police, violence of all kinds and impunity are a major scandal.\"Rights groups and independent bodies, including the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, have criticized French police for resorting to excessive force and for making preventative arrests that could amount to arbitrary deprivation of liberty. The French Defender of Rights noted on March 21 that \"this practice may induce a risk of disproportionately resorting to custodial measures and fostering tensions.\" Human Rights Watch told AFP it was very concerned about \"what appears to be abusive police practices.\"According to Reporters Without Borders, several \"clearly identifiable\" journalists were assaulted by security forces during the demonstrations.On March 20, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association warned French authorities that \u201cpeaceful demonstrations are a fundamental right that the authorities must guarantee and protect. Law enforcement officers must facilitate them and avoid excessive use of force.\u201dThe Council of Europe condemned France's crackdown on protests and warned that sporadic acts of violence could not justify \"excessive use of force by agents of the state.\"White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby stated \"We support the right of people to protest and to express their opinions\" when asked about the situation in France.Dimitris Koutsoumpas, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece, attended a rally in Paris on 23 March; in a statement from Bastille Square, expressing his solidarity with the \"struggle of the French people ... against anti-labor policies, against the anti-popular choices\" utilised by both the French and the Greek governments in order to ensure the working people \"finally win\" and \"pave the way for their own interests and not the interests and profits of the few.\" The International Anthem was played over loudspeakers, with the railway workers and trade unionists being spoken to offering him a \"Friends of the Paris Commune\" handkerchief. ", "title": "2023 French pension reform unrest", "qa_pairs": "[{'Q': 'Because of what structure or system, pension reforms in France may help tackle goverment budget shortfalls?', 'A': 'Pay-as-you-go System.', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': ['France\\'s pension system is largely built on a \"pay-as-you-go structure\"; both workers and employers \"are assessed mandatory payroll taxes that are used to fund retiree pensions\". This system, \"which has enabled generations to retire with a guaranteed, state-backed pension, will not change\".', 'The pay-as-you-go system \u2013 raising the retirement age would help to further finance, as life expectancy increases and more start work later \u2013 would have a surplus of \u20ac3.2bn in 2022, but the government\\'s pensions advisory board (COR) forecast that it would \"fall into structural deficits in coming decades unless new financing sources are found\".']}, {'Q': 'Why could Marine Le Pen file a no-confidence motion in the government?', 'A': 'Bacausend Macron invoking the Article 49.3 to Force the pension reform Through Bills Without A Vote which Triggers A Proviso That Allows For No-Confidence Motions To Be Filed In The Government.', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': ['Marine Le Pen announced she would file a no-confidence motion in the government,[79] describing the use of Article 49.3 as \"an extraordinary confession of weakness,\"[78] \"a total failure for the government\", and that Borne should resign.', 'Article 49.3 of the French Constitution allows governments to bypass the National Assembly and force through bills without a vote. However, invoking it triggers a proviso that allows for no-confidence motions to be filed in the government.']}, {'Q': 'In which places did police use tear gas against protestors on 18 March?', 'A': 'Paris, Bordeaux and Nantes.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': ['On 18 March, it was announced protests in Paris were banned on the Place de la Concorde, opposite parliament, as well at the Champs-\u00e9lys\u00e9es.......Barriers used to block the streets[95] and bottles were thrown at riot police,[18] who utilised tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters. 81 arrests were made in the vicinity.', 'Police also used tear gas against protesters who started a fire in Bordeaux,[99][100] as BFMTV showed demonstrations in major cities such as Marseille, Compiegne, Nantes (where around a thousand protested),[18] Brest,[25] and Montpellier,[95] with around 200 protesting in Lodeve in the south of France.', 'In the afternoon in Nantes, protestors threw bottles at police, who also responded with tear gas;[96] in spite of this, DW described the protests in Nantes, as well as Marseille and Montpellier, as \"mostly peaceful marches\",[95] as did the AP.']}, {'Q': \"What might be the reasons why Macron's pension reform is substantially unpopular?\", 'A': '1. Reforms Do Not Adequately Tackle The Disadvantage Women Are At Within The Workforce.\\n2. The Reforms Will Hit The Working-Class And Those Who Work In Manual Jobs Disproportionately.\\n3. It is argued that The Government Is Prioritizing Businesses And People Who Are Highly Paid Over Average Laborers.', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': ['It has been suggested that the reforms do not adequately tackle the disadvantage women are at within the workforce, who usually retire later than men and with pensions 40% lower in comparison, attributed to more part-time work and maternity leave.', 'As well as this, it has been argued the reforms will hit the working-class and those who work in manual jobs disproportionately.', 'Those opposed to the reforms argue \"the government is prioritizing businesses and people who are highly paid over average laborers\",[27] and have \"disputed the need for urgency\", The New York Times saying they contest that \"Macron is attacking a cherished right to retirement and unfairly burdening blue-collar workers because of his refusal to increase taxes on the wealthy\".']}, {'Q': \"According to the Interior Ministry, what's the difference of the number of protestors between 16 February and 14 March?\", 'A': '440,000 On 16 Feb and 480,000 on 14 March.The number of protestor had increased by 40000 protestors.', 'type': 'computation', 'S': ['On 14 March, The Guardian reported that \"French unions have called for a show of force with a final day of strikes and protests in the run-up\" the vote on the reforms in the National Assembly, which would be the eighth day of national mobilisation sofar. Transport Minister Cl\u00e9ment Beaune said \"there would be disruption to public transport and flights, but it was unlikely to be a \"Black Wednesday\"\", with \"not ... the same level of disruptions as with previous mobilisations\".[16]......There were conflicting numbers of the strength of the protests; the Interior Ministry reported 480,000 marched throughout the country, with 37,000 in Paris, while CGT counted 1.78m and 450,000 respectively.', 'On 16 February, protesters joined fresh rallies and strikes. Unions said some 1.3 million people participated nationwide Thursday, the lowest figure since the protest movement started on January 19. The interior ministry put the national figure at 440,000, down from nearly a million on Saturday (11 Feb).']}, {'Q': 'How was Macron linked to Louis XVI in the protest?', 'A': '1. Threaten the Macron to resign on Twitter video.\\n2. Depicting Macron As Louis XVI in posters.', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': ['Posters along the route of the demonstrations in Paris included those demanding a return to the retirement age of 60, and depicting Macron as Louis XVI.', 'On Twitter, a clip of protesters gathered at the Place chanting \"we decapitated Louis XVI and we can start again, Macron\" went viral,[90] with protesters also, more generally, calling for Macron to resign.']}, {'Q': \"What Is The 'Yellow Vest Protest Also Called?\", 'A': \"The Yellow Jackets Protests, The 'Yellow Vest Revolt' or Gilets jaunes Protests.\", 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': ['N 20 March, Reuters Also Voiced That The Tone Of The Protests Had Deteriorated To, And Were \"Reminiscent\" To, That Of The Yellow Vest Protest In Recent Days.', \"Le Journal Du Dimanche Reported That Macron's Approval Ratings Hit A Low Comparable To The Yellow Jackets Protests.\", 'Reuters Reported On 21 March Of The Unease Within The Parties That Macron Is Aligned, Or Close, To, And That The President Should Not Be \"Continuing Business As Usual Amid Violent Protests And Rolling Strikes That Represent The Most Serious Challenge To The Centrist President\\'s Authority Since The \"Yellow Vest\" Revolt\".']}, {'Q': 'How long did it take from threatening to cancel the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics to storming the headquarters of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris', 'A': '51 days.', 'type': 'computation', 'S': [\"During Emmanuel Macron's tour of France, protesters gathered in Muttersholtz, wearing CGT vests and held unwelcoming signs and banners, including one banner which threatened to cancel the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics if Macron did not withdraw the pension reform.\", '280,000 protesters marched on 6 June, while strikes forced Orly Airport to cancel one-third of its flights that day.[175] Protesters also stormed the headquarters of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, briefly occupying the headquarters building, however no damage occurred.11,000 law enforcement officers were deployed, including 4,000 in Paris.']}, {'Q': 'Reorder the timeline of below events:\\n1. Guardian Reported Sexually Assault.\\n2. Nunez Announced taking place An Internal Investigation.\\n3. A Young Woman Was Reported To Have Lost Her Thumb.', 'A': '2,1,3', 'type': 'timeline_reorder', 'S': ['Nunez announced that an internal investigation would take place after footage of an officer punching a man walking backwards, causing him to fall to the ground, went viral on French social media.', 'On 21 March, The Guardian reported that the \"police watchdog is investigating allegations that four young women in Nantes were sexually assaulted during police controls at a demonstration last week\".', 'In Rouen, a young woman was reported to have lost her thumb after hit by a \\'flash ball\\' grenade used by police to try and disperse protesters \u2013 Damien Adam, Renaissance MP for the area, \"says it\\'s \"clearly unacceptable\" and he wants a police inquiry to find out what happened\" \u2013 and police confirmed two officers were injured after missiles were thrown at them.']}, {'Q': \"How long did take from King Charles's visit was announced to it was postponed?\", 'A': '21 days(from 3 March to 24 March).', 'type': 'computation', 'S': ['On 3 March, it was announced that King Charles III and Queen Camilla, would visit France between 26 and 29 March.', 'n 24 March, at the request of the French Government, the state visit was postponed.']}, {'Q': 'What organizations condemned the France authority for overuse police forces?', 'A': \"France's Human Rights League, Rights Groups And Independent Bodies such as National Consultative Commission On Human Rights, The United Nations Special Rapporteur On Freedom Of Association and The Council Of Europe.\", 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': [\"France's Human Rights League has accused the authorities of disproportionate and dangerous use of public force, undermining citizens' right to protest.\", 'Rights groups and independent bodies, including the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, have criticized French police for resorting to excessive force and for making preventative arrests that could amount to arbitrary deprivation of liberty.', 'On March 20, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association warned French authorities that \u201cpeaceful demonstrations are a fundamental right that the authorities must guarantee and protect. Law enforcement officers must facilitate them and avoid excessive use of force.\u201d', 'The Council of Europe condemned France\\'s crackdown on protests and warned that sporadic acts of violence could not justify \"excessive use of force by agents of the state.\"']}]", "output": "None"}
{"input": " Tectonic setting. Geology. Central southern Turkey and northwestern Syria are affected by the interaction between three tectonic plates; the African Plate, Arabian Plate and Anatolian Plate. The boundary between the African and Arabian plates is represented by the Dead Sea Transform (DST)\u2014a major zone of left-lateral strike-slip fault\u2014it accommodates the relative northward movement of Arabia with respect to Africa. The northern end of the DST truncates at the East Anatolian Fault (EAF) another major left-lateral strike-slip fault zone that accommodates the overall westward movement of the Anatolian Plate as it is extruded in that direction by the northward movement of the Arabian Plate. The DST and EAF meet at the Marash Triple Junction. The EAF continues west of the triple junction, forming the boundary between the African and Anatolian plates, linking into the Cyprus arc to the west via the Latakia Ridge.The 700 km-long (430 mi) EAF is subdivided into seven segments, from the northeast; the Karl\u0131ova, Il\u0131ca, Palu, P\u00fct\u00fcrge, Erkenek, Pazarc\u0131k and Amanos segments. The Amanos segment is also considered part of the DST by some geologists, or a transitional structure between the EAF and DST by others. A northern strand to the EAF has also been recognized, including the S\u00fcrg\u00fc, \u00c7ardak, Savrun, \u00c7okak, Toprakkale, Yumurtal\u0131k, Karata\u015f, Yakap\u0131nar and D\u00fczi\u00e7i\u2013\u0130skenderun segments. The estimated slip rate on the main strand of the EAF system decreases south-westwards from 10 mm (0.39 in) per year on the Karl\u0131ova segment down to 2.9 mm (0.11 in) per year on the Amanos segment. On the northern strand, a slip rate of 2.5 mm (0.098 in) per year was estimated on the \u00c7ardak segment. The S\u00fcrg\u00fc-\u00c7ardak Fault is an east-west striking 160 km (99 mi) long fault that runs north of the EAF. Comprising two segments; the S\u00fcrg\u00fc Fault runs 70 km (43 mi) between \u00c7elikhan and Nurhak; the \u00c7ardak Fault runs 90 km (56 mi) between Nurhak and G\u00f6ksun. Seismicity on the fault is low\u2014the only associated earthquake was a M 6.8 event in 1544.The northern part of the DST is subdivided into several segments, although there is some disagreement between scientists as to which faults should be assigned to the DST and which to the EAF, at the northernmost end of the structure. Following the 2013 \"Active Fault Map of Turkey\", seven DST segments are recognized in Turkey and neighbouring parts of Syria; the Afrin, Sermada, Armanaz, Hac\u0131pa\u015fa, Yesemek, Sak\u00e7ag\u00f6z and Narl\u0131 segments. Seismicity. The EAF has produced large or damaging earthquakes in the past few hundred years along various segments, including the 1789 (M 7.2, Palu), 1795 (M 7.0, Pazarc\u0131k), 1866 (M 7.2 Karl\u0131ova), 1872 (M 7.2, Amanos), 1874 (M 7.1, Palu), 1875 (M 6.7, Palu), 1893 (M 7.1, Erkenek), 1971 (M6.6, Karl\u0131ova) and 2020 (Mw\u202f6.8, P\u00fct\u00fcrge) events. Other large historical earthquakes have been tentatively assigned to segments of the EAF, such as the 1114 and 1513 Marash earthquakes, both thought to have ruptured the Pazarc\u0131k segment.The Palu and P\u00fct\u00fcrge segments in the east display a recurrence interval of about 150 years for M 6.8\u20137.0 earthquakes. The Pazarc\u0131k and Amanos segments in the west have recurrence intervals of 237\u2013772 years and 414\u2013917 years, respectively, for M 7.0\u20137.4 earthquakes. A research paper published by Earth and Planetary Science Letters in 2002 studied stress accumulation and increased seismic hazard along the East Anatolian Fault. The study concluded two sections of the fault with considerably high potential for future earthquakes. One of these sections was in Elaz\u0131\u011f and Bing\u00f6l, located between the rupture zones of the 1874 and 1971 earthquakes. The seismic gap ruptured during a Mw\u202f 6.1 earthquake in 2010. The 2020 Mw\u202f 6.8 earthquake ruptured to the southwest between the 1893/1905 and 1874 earthquakes. Another seismic gap was located in Kahramanmara\u015f\u2014this 103 km (64 mi) long section\u2014according to the study, believed to last rupture in 1513 has the potential to produce magnitude 7.3 earthquakes.Large earthquakes on the northern part of the DST include events in 115, 526, 587, 1138, 1170 and 1822, which resulted in several tens of thousands to several hundreds of thousands of fatalities. Earthquake sequence. The first and largest earthquake in the sequence struck at 01:17 UTC. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Global Centroid Moment Tensor (GCMT) measured it at Mww\u202f7.8 and Mw\u202f7.8, respectively. GEOSCOPE reported Mw\u202f8.0 and Kandilli Observatory (KOERI) reported Mw\u202f7.7 and ML\u202f7.4. It had an epicenter at 37.166\u00b0N 37.032\u00b0E\ufeff / 37.166; 37.032, 34 km (21 mi) west of Gaziantep in Gaziantep Province, which is near the border with Syria. The earthquake hypocenter was at a depth of 10.0 km (6 mi) according to USGS and 5 km (3 mi) according to KOERI. The shock had a focal mechanism corresponding to strike-slip faulting.It is one of the strongest ever recorded in Turkey, equivalent in magnitude to the 1939 Erzincan earthquake (Mw\u202f7.8). These earthquakes are surpassed only by the larger estimates for the 1668 North Anatolia earthquake. Globally it was the strongest recorded since August 2021. Both earthquakes are the largest and only observed to occur on land and within a short span of time. At 10:24 UTC, an earthquake measuring Mww\u202f7.5 according to USGS, Mw\u202f7.6 according to KOERI, or Mw\u202f7.7 according to Geoscope and the GCMT, struck with an epicenter near Ekin\u00f6z\u00fc, 95 km northeast of the M7.8 event. It had a depth of 7.4 km (5 mi) according to the USGS, 5 km (3 mi) by KOERI, and 13 km (8 mi) by Geoscope.A reevaluation of the earthquakes using long-period coda moment magnitude obtained moment magnitudes of Mw\u202f 7.95 \u00b1 0.013 and Mw\u202f 7.86 \u00b1 0.012, respectively. These earthquakes were the largest Turkish earthquakes in over 2,000 years. Aftershocks. Over 570 aftershocks were recorded within 24 hours of the Mw\u202f7.8 earthquake and over 30,000 recorded by May 2023. An aftershock measuring Mww\u202f6.7 occurred about 11 minutes after the mainshock. There were 25 aftershocks Mw\u202f4.0 or greater recorded within six hours of the main tremor, according to the USGS. More than 12 hours later, the USGS had reported at least 54 aftershocks of 4.3 or greater magnitude, while the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) recorded at least 120 total aftershocks. A Mww\u202f6.3 aftershock struck near Uzunba\u011f in Hatay Province on 20 February; the earthquake was the result of oblique-normal faulting. The Mw\u202f 7.8 earthquake had aftershocks distributed along ~350 km (220 mi) of the EAF.The Mw\u202f7.7 earthquake triggered its own aftershock sequence, including two mb 6.0 aftershocks. Aftershocks of the second earthquake continued through at least 9 Feb. Thousands of aftershocks associated with this earthquake were distributed along an east-west trend corresponding to the \u00c7ardak Fault for about 170 km (110 mi). Seismology. A source model for the Mww\u202f7.8 earthquake produced by the USGS from observed seismic waves, taking into account preliminary rupture mapping from satellite data, uses three fault segments with individual lengths, widths, strikes and dips of >40 km (25 mi) \u00d7 30 km (19 mi), 028\u00b0/85\u00b0 (Segment 1), >175 km (109 mi) \u00d7 30 km (19 mi), 060\u00b0/85\u00b0 (Segment 2) and >160 km (99 mi) \u00d7 20 km (12 mi), 025\u00b0/75\u00b0 (Segment 3). The mainshock produced a maximum slip of 11.2 m (37 ft) along Segment 2, beneath Sakarya in Kahramanmara\u015f Province, northeast of the junction where it meets Segment 1. Another zone of large slip estimated at 4.96 m (16.3 ft) occurred further northeast along Segment 2, northwest of Ad\u0131yaman.The USGS source model for the Mw\u202f7.7 earthquake which struck nine hours later has three large fault segments with individual lengths, widths, strikes and dips of >70 km (43 mi) \u00d7 >20 km (12 mi), 276\u00b0/80\u00b0 (Segment 1), >40 km (25 mi) \u00d7 >20 km (12 mi), 250\u00b0/80\u00b0 (Segment 2) and ~80 km (50 mi) \u00d7 >20 km (12 mi), 060\u00b0/80\u00b0 (Segment 3). Maximum displacement occurred on Segment 1 at 11.4 m (37 ft).Three segments of the EAF were involved in the Mw\u202f 7.8 rupture; the Amanos, Pazarc\u0131k and Erkenek segments. The earthquake ruptured ~370 km (230 mi) of the EAF, producing a maximum slip of 9 m (30 ft) along the Pazarc\u0131k segment. The northern end of the rupture was about 20\u201330 km (12\u201319 mi) south of the Mw\u202f 6.8 earthquake that struck in 2020. This section of the EAF, the P\u00fct\u00fcrge segment, between both earthquakes, may represent a seismic gap. The southern segment of the EAF rupture was at its termination, near Antakya. Slip peaked at 12 m (39 ft) from the surface to 7 km (4.3 mi) depth during the Mw\u202f 7.7 earthquake; slip was 11 m (36 ft) at the surface. Slip along the fault was compact\u2014mostly confined to within the \u00c7ardak Fault; it was also shallower\u2014attenuating from 8\u201312 km (5.0\u20137.5 mi). Slip during the Mw\u202f 7.8 event extended to 18 km (11 mi) and 12 km (7.5 mi) for the Mw\u202f 7.7 event. The Mw\u202f 6.4 aftershock that struck Antakya on 20 February had a rupture area of 25 km (16 mi) \u00d7 25 km (16 mi) and produced a peak slip of 0.93 m (3 ft 1 in) at 8.3 km (5.2 mi) depth.Preliminary analysis of the effects of stress changes caused by the M7.8 earthquake on the \u00c7ardak\u2013S\u00fcrg\u00fc Fault, based on the USGS fault model, indicated up to 3 bars of added stress near the epicenter of the M7.7 shock, sufficient to trigger rupture on that zone, assuming that is was already close to failure. Stress on the Hatay Fault, source of the 20 February Mw\u202f 6.4 aftershock, increased by 1 bar following the 6 February earthquakes. Rupture propagation. Preliminary analysis based on seismology and observations of surface rupture suggest the following sequence of events: initial rupture at the site of the epicenter of the M7.8 shock on the Narl\u0131 Fault, the northernmost section of the Dead Sea Transform. The fault ruptured unilaterally northwards until it reached the Pazarc\u0131k segment of the East Anatolian Fault. Ruptures then continued bilaterally to the northeast and southwest along this segment. This subevent on the Narl\u0131 Fault corresponded to a Mw\u202f 7.0 earthquake which ruptured for 20 seconds. It had a focal mechanism corresponding to oblique-normal faulting. A preliminary analysis of near-field (within 1 km (0.62 mi) of the fault rupture) seismic records indicates that the initial rupture speed transitioned to supershear after propagating about 19.5 km (12.1 mi) away from the epicenter along the Narl\u0131 Fault before it reached the EAF. Back projection suggest the total rupture length was ~560 km (350 mi).The rupture continued northeast onto the Ekernek segment and to the southwest onto the Amanos segment. The northeastern rupture ceased 55 seconds after initiation while the southwestern rupture ceased near Antakya about 80 seconds later. A Mw\u202f6.8 aftershock occurring 11 minutes later and west of the first M>7 epicenter may have ruptured along the Sak\u00e7ag\u00f6z Fault, the next segment of the Dead Sea Transform to the south. Rupture along the EAF during the event occurred at subshear velocity (maximum 3.2 km (2.0 mi) per second). An analysis of near-field seismic data revealed transient supershear rupture episodes throughout the EAF rupture. Supershear rupture occurred along the northernmost section of the Narl\u0131 Fault where it meets the EAF. The rupture transitioned onto the EAF and propagated northeast at supershear velocity until its termination near Malatya. Rupture towards the southwest was mostly subshear, but at the southern termination in Hatay, where the fault has multiple branches and kinks, supershear was likely observed. Supershear rupture at the southern termination contributed to the intense ground motion in Antakya.The second M>7 earthquake initiated on a separate fault known as the \u00c7ardak\u2013S\u00fcrg\u00fc Fault Zone, part of the northern strand of the East Anatolian Fault. The rupture propagated bilaterally along the \u00c7ardak segment, continuing eastwards onto the S\u00fcrg\u00fc segment before continuing eastwards to Malatya along the northeast\u2013southwest trending Do\u011fan\u015fehir Fault Zone. Rupture also propagated towards the southwest along the \u00c7ardak segment. The total rupture length was estimated at 160 km (99 mi). The westward-propagating rupture occurred at supershear velocity (maximum 4.8 km (3.0 mi) per second) while the eastward-propagating rupture occurred at subshear velocity (maximum 2.8 km (1.7 mi) per second). The rupture lasted about 35 seconds.The Mw\u202f 6.4 aftershock on 20 February occurred along the Hatay Fault. The focal mechanism indicated normal faulting along a northeast-southwest striking fault. Surface rupture. The extent of surface ruptures associated with the M7.8 and M7.7 earthquakes have been mapped using a mixture of satellite imagery and ground observations. Pixel matching on images captured by Sentinel-1 before and after the earthquakes showed sharp discontinuities in displacement, revealing two separate zones of surface rupture. The longer of the pair, produced by the first earthquake, measured 320 km (200 mi) while the second earthquake produced 150 km (93 mi) of surface rupture. These observations were backed up with direct imaging of the ruptures using other satellite data, such as from the DigitalGlobe's WorldView-1, 2 & 3 and GeoEye-1, and by field work. Remote sensing using satellite imagery indicated 30 km (19 mi) of surface rupture with large normal faulting component.. The zone of surface rupture extended from north of Antakya, Hatay Province towards Pazarc\u0131k, Kahramanmara\u015f Province and G\u00f6lba\u015f\u0131, Ad\u0131yaman Province. Surface ruptures continued north of these cities. Surface rupture occurred in the Amik Valley. The westernmost part of Hatay Airport was damaged by surface ruptures but cracks in the runway were attributed to ground deformation. A major canal was damaged and lead to flooding in parts of the Amik Valley which was formerly Lake Amik. Field observations indicate a maximum displacement of 7.3 m (24 ft) on the surface. Geologists traced a 15 km (9.3 mi) surface rupture trending south from Pazarc\u0131k with an offset of 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in). From Golbasi to Nurda\u011f\u0131 ground displacements were up to 5 m (16 ft). The surface rupture observed during the M7.8 earthquake was unusually large, comparable to that during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake along the San Andreas Fault.Large surface offsets of 6\u20138 m (20\u201326 ft) were observed along the S\u00fcrg\u00fc-\u00c7ardak Fault. The largest offset was measured along a road west of G\u00f6zp\u0131nar; the rupture displaced the road left-laterally for 8.6 m (28 ft). Ground motion. Ground acceleration values recorded in some areas near the fault rupture were in excess of 1 g. Three USGS seismic installations, two at Antakya and one at Hassa, recorded large ground accelerations and velocities. The town of Hassa recorded 0.9082 g in ground acceleration (pga) and 215.34 cm/s (84.78 in/s) in ground velocity. The station data corresponded to a Modified Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). A peak ground acceleration of 1.62 g was recorded by a station at Fevzipa\u015fa. The peak ground acceleration generally exceeded 0.5 g in a large area around the epicenter, near Adiyaman and a large part of Hatay. High pga values of 2 g were recorded in Hatay. The maximum recorded pga was 2.212 g at a station in Pazarc\u0131k Belediyesi Park\u0131, Pazarc\u0131k; a government health facility nearby had sparce damage but the surrounding town was devastated. The maximum recorded pga during the Mw\u202f 7.7 earthquake was 0.59 g at G\u00f6ksun.According to Kandilli Observatory, the maximum Mercalli intensity (MMI) of the mainshock was estimated to have reached MMI XI\u2013XII (Extreme) in Antakya and near the epicenter. MMI XI (Extreme) or higher was observed along the fault rupture from the epicenter to Antakya. The MMI also reached IX\u2013X (Violent\u2013Extreme) in Kahramanmara\u015f and \u0130skenderun, VIII\u2013IX (Severe\u2013Violent) in Malatya and Ad\u0131yaman, VII\u2013VIII (Very strong\u2013Severe) in Gaziantep, Kilis, Idlib and Aleppo, and VI\u2013VII (Strong\u2013Very strong) in Adana and \u015eanl\u0131urfa. The maximum MMI of the second earthquake was X (Extreme). Geological effects. Liquefaction was identified via satellite and remote sensing along the southern portion of the Mw\u202f7.8 rupture on the East Anatolian Fault from Antakya to Golbasi. Liquefaction and lateral spreading were observed at and near coastal areas, fluvial valleys and drained lake or swamp areas, covered by Holocene sediments. These effects were widespread in the Amik Valley and Orontes River plain, north of Antakya, Hatay Province. Limited observations were made in high-elevation areas due to snow cover and lack of satellite observations.  Liquefaction was also observed in Samanda\u011f. At Lake G\u00f6lba\u015f\u0131, Ad\u0131yaman Province, lateral spreading occurred along the northern, eastern and southern coast. Parts of the lakeshore were also submerged. G\u00f6lba\u015f\u0131 was also damaged by liquefaction and lateral spreading.. Subsidence due to lateral spreading caused extensive damage in \u0130skenderun. Liquefaction produced sand ejecta that buried Atat\u00fcrk Boulevard in \u00c7ay District. Regular flooding in the city was observed after the earthquakes. Earlier flooding may be attributed to liquefaction while subsequent occurrences may be due to damage to the coast and water infrastructure. The sea inundated parts of the city by as much as 200 m (660 ft). Large areas of the coast and sections of piers were flooded due to lateral spreading. Large waves from bad weather and a tsunami may have contributed to the effects observed at \u0130skenderun.Despite an epicenter 90 km (56 mi) inland, a tsunami was recorded in the Mediterranean Sea. Small tsunami waves were recorded off the coast of Famagusta, Cyprus, without damage. The tsunami measured 0.17 m (6.7 in), and tsunami waves were recorded at 0.12 m (4.7 in) at \u0130skenderun and 0.13 m (5.1 in) at Erdemli. Tsunami warnings were issued for the southern Turkish coast, southern and eastern Italian coasts and the whole eastern Mediterranean Sea area, but later withdrawn. Damage and casualties. In Turkey. There were 50,783 deaths, 297 missing and 107,204 injured across 11 of the 17 affected provinces of Turkey. At least 15.73 million people and 4 million buildings were affected. About 345,000 apartments were destroyed. More than 2 million residents in the affected provinces were evacuated to nearby provinces including Mersin, Antalya, Mardin, Ni\u011fde and Konya. More than 20 percent of Turkey's agriculture production was affected. The United Nations said crops, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture and rural infrastructure were heavily damaged. At least 516 university buildings were affected, of which 106 were heavily damaged.By 23 February 2023, the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change conducted damage inspections for 1.25 million buildings; revealing 164,000 buildings were either destroyed or severely damaged. A further 150,000 commercial infrastructure were at least moderately damaged. The International Organization for Migration estimated over 2.7 million people were made homeless. A damage assessment by the Turkish government revealed at least 61,722 buildings had to be demolished including 11,900 in Gaziantep Province, 10,900 in Hatay Province, 10,800 in Kahramanmara\u015f Province and 28,914 in Malatya Province. Broad fissures appeared on roads. During recovery efforts, body parts were often found in the rubble.. In Adana, 12 buildings collapsed in the city center, 23 were badly damaged and 120 were moderately damaged. Three apartments were among the buildings that collapsed in the city. Across Adana Province, damage assessments revealed 59 buildings and 1,274 apartments were destroyed or required demolition.At least 300 buildings were razed in Malatya. Sixty percent of the city's buildings received damage. Nearly every neighborhood of the city was affected by collapsed buildings. Out of the 968 mosques in the city, 25 were destroyed and 420 others were damaged. Two hotels collapsed in Malatya, causing many casualties. The ceiling of Malatya Erha\u00e7 Airport experienced a partial collapse, as did the historic Yeni Camii mosque. Damage was also reported at the Arslantepe Mound. In Ak\u00e7ada\u011f, 11 people died, including four attributed to the second earthquake. At least 263 deaths were reported in Do\u011fan\u015fehir.In Gaziantep, many of the historical sites were severely damaged, such as Gaziantep Castle, \u015eirvani Mosque and Liberation Mosque. The city recorded 16,211 collapses and buildings which were severely damaged or required demolition. In the city center, at least 154 people died after a four-story building collapsed; four other collapsed buildings left another 102 dead. In Nizip, at least 51 people were killed when a six-story apartment building collapsed.In Nurda\u011f\u0131, nearly 2,500 people died and about 50 percent of the houses were badly damaged or destroyed. An additional 30 percent of its building stock received moderate damage. Mass graves were created to bury the overwhelming number of dead. Gaziantep O\u011fuzeli Airport was forced to restrict its service to rescue flights. Ninety percent of houses were heavily damaged or destroyed in Sak\u00e7ag\u00f6z\u00fc, and 256 people died. In \u0130slahiye, there were 1,368 deaths, over 1,500 injuries and more than 200 destroyed apartments. There were over 130 deaths in Suluma\u011fara; 200 in Alt\u0131n\u00fcz\u00fcm; and 300\u2013400 in Kek\u00fckl\u00fc.. In Hatay Province, 13,517 buildings collapsed, 8,162 required demolition and 67,346 were heavily damaged. The districts of Antakya, K\u0131r\u0131khan and \u0130skenderun were the most affected. In Antakya, 70 percent of homes and 6,369 buildings collapsed, 3,734 had to be demolished and 21,830 were badly damaged. The collapse of the luxury R\u00f6nesans Rezidans apartment trapped an estimated 800 people and killed 750 residents. The runway of Hatay Airport was split and uplifted, causing flight cancellations. The Ankara Metropolitan Municipality completed repairs on the airport on 12 February, allowing its reopening. Two provincial hospitals and a police station were destroyed, and a gas pipeline exploded. The building that housed the assembly of Hatay State was destroyed, as was St. Paul's Church and the Habib'i Neccar Mosque, while damage occurred at the Antakya Synagogue and the Hatay Archaeology Museum. Several dozen buildings in G\u00fczelbur\u00e7 district and nearly every house in the central and Cebrail districts collapsed. Most of the squad and coaching staff of the local football club Hatayspor were initially trapped in the collapse of their headquarters in Antakya before being rescued, with player Christian Atsu and sporting director Taner Savut dying. In K\u0131r\u0131khan District, 1,886 buildings collapsed and 7,190 others were severely damaged or required demolition. At least 982 buildings were destroyed, 8,894 others were badly damaged and 943 had to be demolished in Defne. In Reyhanl\u0131, 318 buildings collapsed and 1,661 others were severely damaged or required demolition. At least 187 buildings collapsed, 2,176 others were badly damaged and 194 others had to be demolished in Arsuz. In Kumlu, 131 buildings were destroyed, 738 others were severely damaged and 84 others required demolition. At least 58 buildings collapsed and 669 others were badly damaged or had to be demolished in Payas.. In \u0130skenderun, an industrial city in Hatay Province, a large fire at the port was reported on 6 February at 17:00, believed to have originated from a container carrying flammable industrial oil, forcing the port's closure and the diversion of many ships. It was extinguished on 6 and 8 February, only for it to reignite the next day each time. It was finally extinguished on 10 February. A total of 3,670 containers were destroyed by the fire and the port managing authority said it would take three months for operations to resume. The city saw 534 buildings collapse, 337 requiring demolition and 4,622 receiving severe damage. Flooding occurred along the city shoreline, inundating streets up to 200 m (660 ft) inland. The Cathedral of the Annunciation, seat of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia, was almost completely destroyed. At least 3,109 people died in the city and over 12,000 were injured. In Erzin District, 31 buildings collapsed and 897 were heavily damaged or had to be demolished. However, there were no collapses or major damage in Erzin, the largest town in the district. Multiple factors including strict building codes prevented destruction. An estimated 20,000 people fled to Erzin, increasing its population by about 50 percent. In Samanda\u011f, 670 buildings collapsed, 9,212 were badly damaged or required demolition and 7,850 people died. At least 1,046 buildings collapsed and 3,452 others were severely damaged or had to be demolished in Hassa District. In Alt\u0131n\u00f6z\u00fc, 838 buildings were destroyed, 3,892 others were badly damaged and 650 others required demolition. There were 213 collapsed buildings and 1,453 others had been severely damaged or had to be demolished in Yaylada\u011f\u0131. At least 139 buildings collapsed, 755 others were badly damaged and 87 others had to be demolished in Belen. In D\u00f6rtyol, 115 buildings were destroyed and 2,030 others had to be demolished or were severely damaged.. Mass burials occurred in Kahramanmara\u015f for more than 5,000 bodies. A city official said the mass grave would eventually be the burial ground for 10,000 bodies. Around 75 percent of the city's buildings were damaged or destroyed. In Elbistan, 924 people died and 1,825 were injured. An estimated 2,000 buildings were destroyed. At Ordekdede, a village in Pazarcik District, almost all single-story buildings were decimated. None of the 140 houses in the village were structurally stable. Thirty-four people died in the village. At least 11 people died, 107 houses were destroyed and 70 percent of the building stock were damaged in Ekin\u00f6z\u00fc. In Af\u015fin, at least 180 people died. At least 335 buildings including 90 in the city center were destroyed. The Af\u015fin-Elbistan Thermal Power Plant was also damaged. In Ericek, a village in G\u00f6ksun, 95 percent of homes were affected and 152 died. In Nurhak, there were around 200 deaths and all houses were severely damaged. In T\u00fcrko\u011flu, 1,171 buildings collapsed and 4,500 others required demolition.. In Ad\u0131yaman Province, over 20,000 buildings and 56,600 apartments were destroyed. In the city of Ad\u0131yaman, four neighborhoods were razed. Many buildings along Atat\u00fcrk Boulevard collapsed. The city hall, a 6th-century mosque and G\u00f6lba\u015f\u0131 District's state hospital were also destroyed. Isias Hotel, the largest hotel in the city, also collapsed, killing 65 people. Up to 10 percent of Ad\u0131yaman's population perished. The mayor of K\u00f6m\u00fcr said the Karap\u0131nar and Bah\u00e7elievler neighborhoods were nearly destroyed. Destruction was also observed in Barbaros, \u00c7elikhan, S\u00fcmerevler and Karap\u0131nar districts. In Harmanl\u0131, a village in G\u00f6lba\u015f\u0131 District, 80\u201390 percent of it was destroyed. The second earthquake destroyed three buildings in the province. In G\u00f6lba\u015f\u0131, 71 percent of the town's infrastructure was damaged or destroyed and 695 people were killed with over 400 injured, including 286 deaths in the town center. There were also 410 deaths in Besni District, about 90 percent of them in the town itself. In K\u00e2hta, at least 55 people died.In Diyarbakir Province, 8,086 buildings were damaged, required demolition or were destroyed. Diyarbak\u0131r Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was also partly destroyed. The adjacent World Heritage Site of Hevsel Gardens was also damaged. Part of the Galeria complex in Yeni\u015fehir, which included a shopping mall and dozens of apartments collapsed, killing 89 and injuring 22.. At least 466 buildings were heavily damaged in \u015eanl\u0131urfa Province; 201 were destroyed. Structures around the Pool of Abraham were damaged. The minaret at the religious shrine partially collapsed, sending rubble into the pools below and discoloring the water, which was also contaminated by seeping sewage. In Eyy\u00fcbiye District, the minaret of the Ey\u00fcp Prophet Mosque was damaged and removed. Thirty-three people were killed in the collapse of the Osman A\u011fan Apartment.In Osmaniye Province, of the 22,841 buildings surveyed, 1,739 were heavily damaged, destroyed or required urgent demolision. At least 1,088 of the 13,667 buildings examined in Merkez District were destroyed, seriously damaged or needed to be demolished.In Kilis Province, 119 buildings were destroyed and 138 others were heavily damaged. In Batman Province, 218 buildings were damaged, and an additional 15 were completely destroyed. In Mardin Province, 59 buildings were heavily damaged and another 190 were slightly damaged and a death related to a heart attack occurred in K\u0131z\u0131ltepe District. In Bing\u00f6l Province, several houses cracked and some livestock were killed by collapsing barns. In Samsun, damage occurred in Samsun Stadium. In Kayseri Province, eight buildings collapsed, while 5,252 others were damaged to some extent. Several houses were damaged and a barn collapsed in Mu\u015f Province. In Sivas Province, the second earthquake destroyed a few houses. In Giresun Province, a five-story building was damaged and evacuated. An unoccupied apartment in Elaz\u0131\u011f was damaged and later collapsed during the second earthquake.Among the dead included member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for Ad\u0131yaman Yakup Ta\u015f, Yeni Malatyaspor goalkeeper Ahmet Ey\u00fcp T\u00fcrkaslan, former Turkish national handball team player Cemal K\u00fctahya and his five-year-old son, and Saul Cenudio\u011flu, leader of the Jewish community in Antakya, who died along with his wife. Former MP for Kahramanmara\u015f S\u0131tk\u0131 G\u00fcven\u00e7 died from earthquake injuries on 9 February. Three Turkish soldiers died during rescue operations. Twenty-six local journalists, four doctors, 120 police officers and 32 gendarmeries were among the dead. In Syria. At least 8,476 people died and over 14,500 were injured in Syria. Among the dead included 2,153 children and 1,524 women. The Syrian Ministry of Health recorded over 2,248 earthquake-related deaths and 2,950 injuries in government held areas, most of which were in the governorates of Aleppo and Latakia. In rebel-held areas, at least 4,547 people died and 2,200 others were injured. The Syrian Network for Human Rights stated 73 medics, five media personnel, 62 workers in humanitarian agencies, and four civil defense personnel were among the dead. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said additional dead were buried before being registered and some victims died in hospitals. Syria's National Earthquake Centre said the earthquake is \"the biggest earthquake recorded\" in its operational history.An estimated 5.37 million people across Syria may have been made homeless, while 10.9 million people, nearly half of Syria's population, were affected. More than 123 residential areas, villages, towns and cities were badly damaged. Many power plants, water facilities, hospitals and public infrastructure also sustained damage. At least 453 schools were damaged. A total of 10,600 buildings had partially or fully collapsed, while thousands of others were damaged in the country.Hundreds were killed in the towns of Jindires and Atarib. In Jableh, at least 283 people died, 173 were injured and 19 buildings collapsed. Four bodies were recovered and 15 bodies were in the process of recovery during debris clearance on 10 February. On 11 February, six bodies were retrieved from the rubble of a collapsed house along al-Maliyeh Street. Civilians were stuck under the rubble for hours due to the lack of rescue teams in several villages such as Atarib, Besnia, Jindires, Maland, Salqin and Sarmada. In Latakia Governorate, 142,000 people were affected; at least 805 people died and 1,131 others were injured. The region's governor said 105 buildings were destroyed, 247 were at risk of collapse and 900 others were severely damaged. At Tishreen University, 10 students, 3 employees and a professor died. At least 48 people were killed in Hama, of which 43 were from the collapse of an eight-story building.The Associated Press, citing local residents, said the Afrin Dam had cracked. On 9 February at 04:00, the dam burst and flooded the village of Al-Tloul, which was exacerbated by heavy rains along the Afrin River basin. Nearly all its residents fled; about 500 families were displaced. According to Reuters, citing local residents, between 35 and 40 people died and most buildings in Al-Tloul were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake. In Atarib, 148 bodies arrived at an underground hospital. A doctor at the hospital said some bodies were missing their head or limbs. Various archaeological sites in Tartus Governorate were damaged, including the Khawabi Castle and Aleika Castle, which partially collapsed. Damage to historical towers and infrastructure were also reported in Tartous and Safita.The president of the Syrian American Medical Society, Amjad Rass, said emergency rooms were packed with injured. In Idlib Governorate, one hospital received 30 bodies. In the village of Azmarin, Idlib Governorate, at least 260 people died, including 51 members of one family; at least 300 were injured and 100 were rescued. Fifteen buildings in the village were leveled and about 50 percent of its housing stock had cracks. Footballer Nader Joukhadar, who played for the national team, was killed alongside his son when their home collapsed in Jableh.. According to the International Rescue Committee, the earthquake struck when rebel-held areas were preparing for a blizzard and experiencing a cholera outbreak. In Aleppo, dozens of buildings collapsed and at least 444 people died, including 163 children. By 8 February, the bodies of 210 victims were returned to their families. The Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums said various archeological sites across the city were extensively cracked or collapsed. Cracks were also reported in the outer fa\u00e7ade of the Aleppo National Museum. In Atarib, Aleppo, the Syrian American Medical Society hospital said 120 bodies were recovered. About 20,000 homes were affected in Aleppo, leaving 70,000 homeless. In Rajo, the doors and walls of a prison facility cracked. Twenty prisoners, believed to be Islamic State (ISIS) members, escaped the facility.In Damascus, many people fled from their homes onto the streets. In the northern parts of the city, many buildings were cracked. Many buildings in Syria had already been damaged by an almost 12-year-long civil war. The Crusader-built castle Margat suffered damage, with part of a tower and parts of some walls collapsing. Cracks also opened up in the walls of the Krak des Chevaliers castle. The Citadel of Aleppo was also affected. In addition, one of the towers of Sahyun Castle near Latakia was destroyed, meanwhile all others were in danger. The minaret of the Grand Mosque in Koban\u00ee was also damaged. In Jindires, over 1,100 people were killed and at least 250 buildings were razed; among the deaths were a family of 7\u2014the only survivor was a newborn.. Destruction in Aleppo, Syria Foreign casualties. At least 6,600 Syrians residing in Turkey were killed. According to Turkey's Presidency of Migration Management 1.75 million Syrians live in southern Turkey; 460,150 in Gaziantep; 354,000 in Antakya; 368,000 in \u015eanl\u0131urfa; 250,000 in Adana. Turkey's health ministry returned the bodies of 1,793 Syrian victims to their relatives in Syria, while thousands of Syrians were buried in Turkey due to difficulties transporting them to Syria. At least 11 Iraqi war refugees died in Turkey.Most Afghans killed in Turkey were refugees who fled the country after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Among the deaths of Lebanese was an entire family of three in Malatya. Ten Azerbaijanis were killed in Turkey, including four students in Malatya. An Italian family of six, and an entrepreneur also perished. Nineteen students, two teachers and a parent from Northern Cyprus died when a hotel in Adiyaman collapsed. Seven other Turkish Cypriots died in Hatay and Kahramanmara\u015f. Effects in other countries. In Lebanon, residents were awakened from their sleep. Buildings in the country shook for up to 40 seconds. In Beirut, residents fled their homes and stayed in streets or drove in their vehicles to flee from buildings. The earthquake damaged 16,200 buildings across the country, including 10,460 in Beirut and 4,000 in Tripoli.In Ashdod, Israel, a building was evacuated after cracks were observed in a pillar, and Champion Motors Tower in Bnei Brak was slightly damaged by the second earthquake. In Nicosia, Cyprus, some windows cracked, and the wall of a house collapsed, damaging two nearby vehicles. Six Cuvier's beaked whales were found dead along the island's northern coast on 10 February. The Department of Fisheries and Marine Research said there was a possible link between the beaching and earthquake as these whales' echolocation system are affected by sea disturbances.The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said shaking was felt in Armenia, Egypt, Palestine, Georgia, Greece, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, and Russia. In Iraq, minor damage occurred in some houses and buildings in Erbil, and the city's citadel was severely damaged. In Egypt, tremors were strongly felt in the capital Cairo, and is considered the strongest earthquake felt since 1975. A 20 m (66 ft) crack appeared in the Corniche in Alexandria. Aftershocks. On 20 February, a Mww\u202f6.3 aftershock struck near Antakya, causing additional buildings to collapse in Samanda\u011f and further damage in Antakya. Six people died in Antakya, Defne and Samanda\u011f. At least 562 were injured including 18 in serious condition who received immediate medical attention before being taken to Adana and D\u00f6rtyol. AFAD warned residents to stay away from the coast as there was potential for a tsunami of up to 50 cm (20 in). The mayor of Hatay said several people were trapped under debris. A bridge was damaged and an empty three-story building in \u0130skenderun collapsed. In Syria, five people died during stampedes and panic across several governates and at least 500 people were injured. The White Helmets said people in Aleppo and Idlib were injured by collapsed buildings. Some residents in Jinderis were injured after leaping off buildings. In northwestern Syria, damaged and abandoned buildings collapsed without casualties. Shaking was felt in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan.A Mww\u202f5.2 aftershock occurred on 27 February, near Ye\u015filyurt. It collapsed about 30 buildings in the town. Two people died and 140 others were injured; 12 in serious condition. One fatality and four injuries were attributed to a factory collapse in Kahramanmara\u015f Province. Estimations of losses. The USGS Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) service estimated a 35 percent probability of economic losses between US$10 billion and US$100 billion. There was a 34 percent probability of economic losses exceeding US$100 billion. The service estimated a 36 percent probability of deaths between 10,000 and 100,000; 26 percent probability of deaths exceeding 100,000. For the second large earthquake, there was a 46 percent probability of deaths between 1,000 and 10,000; 30 percent probability of deaths between 100 and 1,000. The service also estimated a 35 percent percent probability of economic losses between US$1 billion and US$10 billion; 27 percent probability of economic losses between US$10 billion and US$100 billion.Risklayer estimated a death toll of between 23,284 and 105,671. According to geophysics professor, \u00d6vg\u00fcn Ahmet Ercan, \"180,000 people or more may be trapped under the rubble, nearly all of them dead.\" On 11 February, when the death toll was reported at about 28,000, United Nations emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths said the death toll was expected to \"more than double\". The World Health Organization said up to 26 million people may have been affected; 15 million in Turkey and 11 million in Syria.Immediately after the earthquakes the Turkish lira value struck a record low of 18.85 against the US dollar, but rebounded to its starting position at the end of the day. Turkish stock markets fell; main equities benchmark fell as much as 5 percent and banks fell 5.5 percent but recovered from the losses. The country's main stock market dropped 1.35 percent on 6 February. The Borsa Istanbul fell 8.6 percent on 7 February, and declined by more than 7 percent on the morning of 8 February before trading was suspended; the exchange then announced it would close for five days. Total cost of earthquake damage in Turkey was estimated by T\u00dcRKONFED at $84.1 billion US dollars; $70.75 billion on rebuilding, $10.4 billion loss in national income, and an additional $2.91 billion loss in workforce. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said rebuilding would cost $105 billion. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said potential losses may be up to 1 percent of Turkey's GDP in 2023. The Turkish government released a preliminary report estimating the total damage cost at $103.6 billion; corresponding to 9 percent of its GDP in 2023. About half of residential property in the affected area is thought to be covered by Compulsory Earthquake Insurance.. The United Nations Development Programme estimated between 116 million and 210 million tons of debris must be cleared in Turkey. The volume of building debris was estimated at 100 million m3 (3.5 billion cu ft); greater than any recent natural disaster. The amount is 10 times that produced during the 2010 Haiti earthquake.In Syria, the World Bank estimated $5.1 billion in damages, excluding economic impact and losses. Nearly half the cost was direct damage to residential buildings and 18 percent on infrastructure. Aleppo Governate, the worst-affected governate, accounted for 45 percent of the damage cost (equivalent to about $2.3 billion), followed by Idlib and Lattakia governates. The amount of destroyed or damaged capital stock was about 10 percent of Syria's GDP. The World Bank estimated the reconstruction cost at $7.9 billion, additionally the economy may contract by up to 5.5 percent in 2023. Aftermath in Turkey. In the immediate aftermath, thousands were trapped under rubble when buildings collapsed. Many people were missing in collapsed buildings. Survivors trapped under rubble livestreamed their pleas for help on social media. Some trapped survivors shared their location on social media which allowed rescuers to reach them. People who lost contact with their relatives also sent pleas on social media. Several tens of thousands of people across the region were left homeless and spent the night in cold weather. Officials had plans to open hotels in Antalya, Alanya and Mersin to temporarily accommodate the affected population. Authorities were slammed by residents in Hatay Province, who criticized the insufficient search and rescue efforts. Hatay Airport's runway was heavily damaged, making rescue efforts challenging. On 7 February, authorities said 1,846 people in the province have been rescued.. Mosques in Turkey were used as shelters for people unable to return to their homes amid freezing temperatures. In Gaziantep, people sought refuge in shopping malls, stadiums, community centers, and mosques. Nearly 250,000 displaced persons resided in schools across Malatya Province. At least 24 mobile kitchens from vocational schools in the province were distributed across the affected areas.Several Turkish humanitarian institutions such as Ahbap from Haluk Levent, the Turkish Philanthropy Funds (US-based), and Turkish Red Crescent (besides other IFRC members around the world) also launched emergency appeals to help the victims.. Turkish Airlines said it would provide free flights from the provinces of Adana, Ad\u0131yaman, Gaziantep, Kayseri, Diyarbak\u0131r, \u015eanl\u0131urfa, Malatya, Elaz\u0131\u011f and Kahramanmara\u015f. The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority opened an invitation for citizen volunteers to help with rescue efforts in the affected area. Thousands of volunteers arrived at Istanbul Airport. Bilal Ek\u015fi, CEO of Turkish Airlines, said it has flown 11,780 volunteers on 80 flights to Adana, Gaziantep, Adiyaman and \u015eanl\u0131urfa. Pegasus Airlines said it evacuated 30,771 people from the affected area on 169 flights between 6 and 9 February. Between 6 and 11 February, Turkish Airlines said it evacuated 139,438 people from the affected area on 790 flights. It carried 7,833 members of search and rescue and aid groups to the affected area on 1,595 flights. Search and rescue. President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan said on Twitter, \"search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched\" to the affected area. Interior Minister S\u00fcleyman Soylu urged residents to refrain from entering damaged buildings. On 7 February, President Erdo\u011fan declared a 3-month state of emergency in the 10 affected provinces: Adana, Hatay, Osmaniye, Kahramanmara\u015f, Gaziantep, Kilis, \u015eanl\u0131urfa, Ad\u0131yaman, Malatya and Diyarbak\u0131r.The national government declared a level four alert to appeal for international aid. According to the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, 25,000 search and rescue personnel were dispatched to the 10 affected provinces. At least 70 countries offered to help in search and rescue operations.. Emergency services in Turkey were activated and looked for survivors trapped under many collapsed buildings. By 8 February, more than 8,000 people were rescued from rubble across 10 provinces. About 380,000 individuals took refuge at relief shelters or hotels.An \"air aid corridor\" was established by the Turkish Armed Forces to mobilize search and rescue teams. Many military aircraft including an Airbus A400M and C-130 Hercules planes transported search and rescue teams and vehicles to the area. Food, blankets and psychological teams were also sent. Turkey sent an official request to NATO and allies for assistance.Over 53,000 Turkish emergency workers were deployed to the regions affected from the earthquakes. A team of 90 miners from Soma arrived at Osmaniye to provide assistance. The Izmir Metropolitan Municipality also sent dozens of vehicles and equipment.Poor weather conditions including snow, rain and freezing temperatures disrupted search and rescue efforts undertaken by rescue workers and civilians. Rescuers and volunteers wore winter clothing while searching for survivors. Damaged roads also slowed down aid delivery.On 8 February, Erdo\u011fan visited the town of Pazarc\u0131k, Kahramanmara\u015f Province and Hatay Province. He acknowledged \"shortcomings\" in the response to the earthquake, but denied that there was an insufficient number of personnel involved in rescue operations. He also described people saying they hadn't seen security forces at all in some areas as \"provocateurs\".AFAD announced on 19 February that search and rescue efforts in most of the affected provinces had ceased. The chairperson of AFAD, Yunus Sezer, said efforts would largely be discontinued by the night of 19 February. Operations were still ongoing for 40 buildings in Kahramanmara\u015f and Hatay provinces by 19 February. Charity and volunteer campaigns. President of the Turkish Red Crescent, Kerem K\u0131n\u0131k, said the national blood stock may not be sufficient and made an appeal on social media urging people to donate blood across the country. On 7 February, many search and rescue teams from various cities, many from Instanbul, and AFAD volunteers reached the affected areas. At Istanbul, 12,752 volunteers were flown on 73 flights to the region by 06:00. By 11 February, there were over 159,000 volunteer and professional search and rescue personnel in the affected area.Eight of Turkey's most-watched television channels organized a joint broadcast of an aid campaign. The channels; ATV, FOX, Kanal D, Kanal 7, Show TV, Star TV, TRT 1 and TV8 ortak organized the T\u00fcrkiye Beats with One Heart Campaign on 15 February. The broadcast was featured on 213 television channels and 562 radio stations. The campaign received $6.1 billion in donations; the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey was the largest donor, pledging $1.6 billion. Ziraat Bank and Vak\u0131fBank each pledged $1 billion. The Ministry of Youth and Sports, Turkish Football Federation, Super League Clubs Association Foundation and beIN Media Group organized the Omuz Omuza campaign which raised $44.8 million on the first day. Government assistance. The government said it would pay compensation to those who have lost their homes. President Erdo\u011fan said \u20ba15,000 in relocation assistance per household would be given to those whose homes were moderate, heavy or total destruction. Rent assistance of up to \u20ba5,000 would be given to homeowners and \u20ba2,000 to tenants.On 9 February, after touring the city of Gaziantep, Erdo\u011fan promised to rebuild destroyed homes of survivors within one year. He also said the government is working on temporary accommodation for those made homeless. That same day, force majeure was imposed in the affected region and tax obligations between 6 February and 31 July 2023, were postponed until 31 July 2023.On 10 February, while touring Ad\u0131yaman Province, President Erdo\u011fan reiterated the promise to rebuild all homes within one year, and added that the government will subsidize rents for those unwilling to stay in tents. He later added that more than 141,000 rescue personnel, including foreign teams, were working in the 10 affected provinces, that 100 billion lira (US$5.3 billion) were allocated to the disaster response. On 22 February, the Turkish government announced plans to construct 200,000 homes in the 11 affected provinces and a further 70,000 in villages.Over 1.9 million people were rehoused in dormitories, guest houses, tents, hotels and containers. AFAD issued a statement on 16 February, detailing that 387,000 tents had been established in the affected area by local and international organizations. President Erdo\u011fan said 890,000 survivors were placed in dormitories and 50,000 in hotels. He added that 1.6 million people had access to shelter. Across the affected region, 162 container cities were established. The Governor of \u015e\u0131rnak, Osman Bilgin, said the district would be demolished and reconstructed.On 22 April, at an opening ceremony for new homes in Gaziantep, President Erdo\u011fan said construction had begun for 105,000\u2014more than half had been completed. He added that the government was constructing 507,000 houses and 143,000 village homes; 319,000 homes were planned for completion by the end of 2023. New facilities including schools, hospitals, bazaars, markets, green areas, and parks were also being built. Incidents. On the morning of 7 February, Turkey accused the People's Defense Units of having overseen an MRL attack on its border checkpoint, and that the Turkish army has responded with further attacks.The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) declared a ceasefire in its conflict with Turkey. Co-founder of the PKK, Cem\u00eel Bayik, said \"thousands of our people are under the rubble\" and pushed for the focus on recovery efforts. He requested for all groups engaged to stop military actions and added that the PKK would not be engaged \"as long as the Turkish state does not attack\".On 9 February, three inmates were killed and 12 more injured after soldiers opened fire during a prison riot in Hatay. The prisoners were demanding to see their families affected by the earthquake.On 11 February, German and Austrian rescuers deployed to Hatay suspended operations, citing a worsening security situation due to the slow arrival of aid or sporadic clashes between armed groups. The teams later resumed operations when the Turkish Land Forces provided protection. On 12 February, rescuers from the Israeli search-and-rescue group United Hatzalah left Turkey, citing \"intelligence of a concrete and immediate threat on the Israeli delegation\".On 17 February, a Syrian family of seven, including five children, were killed during a fire that struck a home in Nurda\u011f\u0131, Turkey, in which they moved to after surviving the earthquake. Seven other people were injured during the fire. A natural gas explosion at a building in \u015eanl\u0131urfa on 20 February killed two, left five injured and damaged businesses. \u015eanl\u0131urfa's governor, Salih Ayhan, said due to the earthquakes, gas supply to the city was cut and an investigation was ongoing. A bus ferrying earthquake survivors from Hatay to Konya collided with a truck on the Tarsus-Adana-Gaziantep Motorway on 23 February, killing two and injuring six.On 20 April, an IF1 tornado struck a camp housing people affected by the earthquake in Pazarc\u0131k, Kahramanmara\u015f; three people died and 50 others were injured. Floods. Floods which struck the provinces of Ad\u0131yaman and \u015eanl\u0131urfa in March killed at least 14 people. On March 15, Turkey's interior minister Suleyman Soylu said five people were missing. The floods swept away cars, affected homes and campsites housing earthquake survivors. Twelve people, including five Syrians, died in \u015eanl\u0131urfa. An intensive care unit in a hospital in the province was evacuated. In Ad\u0131yaman, two drowning deaths occurred when floodwaters swept away a container home with a family. Over a dozen professional divers participated in search and rescue efforts in each province. 2023 elections. Before the earthquake, the government had planned the elections to be held on 14 May 2023, a month earlier than its latest possible date as a snap election. After the earthquake, doubts arose if elections could be held on schedule. On 13 February, B\u00fclent Ar\u0131n\u00e7 of the AKP demanded the elections be postponed despite the constitution disallowing such a possibility in the absence of war. Ar\u0131n\u00e7's declaration has been criticized by media outlets and politicians. It remains to be seen whether the governing coalition, with its 333 seats in parliament, can surpass the 400-number hurdle needed to pass such proposals by changing the constitution. On 18 February, AKP authorities stated that the elections would not be delayed.Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu of the CHP opposed its postponement on constitutional grounds. Mustafa Tolga \u00d6zt\u00fcrk, YSK member of the \u0130Y\u0130 party stated that YSK does not have any power to postpone an election and only parliament has the right to do so, adding that Turkey had no more time to lose with the AKP. Selahattin Demirta\u015f of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) has described the postponement as a political coup. The declaration of state of emergency in the affected regions was also interpreted as a possible measure to postpone elections. Nevertheless, the earthquake led to the main anti-Erdo\u011fan coalition postponing its 13 February meeting for the selection of its consensus presidential candidate to 6 March.At the elections, the Erdo\u011fan-lead elecotral People's Alliance retained its majority in the Grand National Assembly, while Erdo\u011fan in the first round of the presidential election received 49.5% with 52.2% in the second one against K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu. This marked the first time a Turkish presidential election went into a run-off. Education. On 9 February, the Council of Higher Education said education and training at universities in the affected provinces would be suspended until further notice. Student hostels managed by the General Directorate of Higher Education Credit and Hostels would be used to house affected individuals. The minister of national education, Mahmut \u00d6zer, ordered a week-long closure of all schools in the country, which was later extended to two weeks. Schools in the affected provinces were suspended until 10 March. Students studying in schools located in the affected provinces would be transferred to other provinces of their choice. Sports. After the earthquake, S\u00fcper Lig was suspended for over a week to mourn the victims. Clubs from affected regions: S\u00fcper Lig clubs Hatayspor, Gaziantep FK, TFF First League club Yeni Malatyaspor, Adanaspor, TFF Second League club Ad\u0131yaman FK, Diyarbekirspor and TFF Third League clubs Kahramanmara\u015fspor, Osmaniyespor FK and Malatya Arguvan SK withdrew from competition. Sivas Belediyespor, Tarsus \u0130dman Yurdu and Ni\u011fde Anadolu requested to withdraw but TFF did not approve their requests.On 6 February, it was announced the 2023 ISF World School Winter Games, which were due to be held in Erzurum, were canceled due to the 'force majeure' situation in the country. On 10 February, it was announced the 2023 Men's EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup was canceled due to the impact of the earthquake. The tournament was intended to be held from 17 to 19 February in Alanya. In an official statement, Minister of Youth and Sports Mehmet Kasapo\u011flu announced that every national championship would be suspended with immediate effect, until further communications.All 39 members of the Northern Cypriot T\u00fcrk Maarif Koleji's high school volleyball team including players, teachers, parents and a trainer died in the collapse of a hotel in Ad\u0131yaman.Three players from Iran's national paralympic football team died in Turkey. Hatayspor's Ghanaian winger Christian Atsu died in the collapse of R\u00f6nesans Rezidans in Antakya. His body was found on the morning of 18 February. Atsu was a former Chelsea, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Everton player. Basketball player Nilay Aydogan died in Malatya.In the first game of the Super Lig after the earthquake between Fenerbahce Istanbul and Konyaspor, the fans protested the Turkish government and shouted demands for its resignation, which was still heard even after the broadcaster of the game BeIN tried to censor the fans' voices. In another football game in Istanbul between Besiktas and Antalyaspor the fans repeated their calls for the government's resignation and threw cuddly toys onto the field. Aftermath in Syria. President Bashar al-Assad held an emergency meeting with his cabinet to organize a rescue plan for the affected regions. He identified Aleppo, Hama and Latakia governates as the most affected. Following orders from President al-Assad, all teams of the civil defense, firefighting, health, and public construction groups were mobilized to the affected governates. He also added that medical services, food and shelter were urgently needed. The Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection was ordered by President al-Assad to supply food and organize teams to distribute them. Technical teams were also on site to evaluate building conditions and evacuate residents in at-risk structures. The Ministry of Water Resources was tasked with rapidly assessing damage to dams, reservoirs and water stations, and ensuring people have access to water.The Syrian government appealed to UN member states, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other humanitarian organizations for international aid. Syria also requested for aid from the European Union's European Civil Protection Mechanism, according to commissioner Janez Lenar\u010di\u010d. The Syrian government, through its representative in the United Nations, said that it should be responsible for aid distribution in all areas of the country, including those held by the rebels. The UK government said it would deliver aid through its long-term partners, the White Helmets civilian defense force. The US State Department said it would use its humanitarian partners on the ground.The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said damaged roads and logistical issues prevented the mobilization of international aid across the border from Turkey. Border crossings into Turkey remained closed on 7 February. Critically injured patients were unable to enter Turkey for medical attention. There were exceptions as to which persons could cross, including individuals holding touristic residence permits who could only cross by foot. The Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing was made accessible on 8 February, according to the UN.Some hotels including in Latakia and Damascus offered to accommodate to survivors free of charge and ensure basic necessities. Refugees and expatriates also opened their homes as shelters for people. Al-Sham Private University started an effort to receive people. Sports facilities, events venues, university dormitories and halls were also opened to take in people. The Syria Trust for Development announced the establishment of shelters across many governorates. Volunteer groups inspected buildings for damage and distributed food items, blankets, and first aid essentials.. Due to the high number of casualties, including trauma cases, many hospitals became overcrowded. Hospitals were already experiencing a shortage of medical supplies prior to the earthquake. Hospitals in many cities were forced to operate far beyond capacity. Many patients at hospitals slept on floors due to the lack of beds. The Ministry of Health dispatched medical convoys from the Health Directorates of Damascus, Rif Dimashq Governorate, Quneitra, Homs, and Tartus, to Aleppo and Latakia to rebel-held areas. Twenty-eight ambulances, seven mobile clinics, and four trucks carrying medical, surgical and emergency aid were also dispatched. Local charities across the country, which typically distribute food during the month of Ramadan, have been exhausted to their fullest capacity. One of these charities, Saed Initiative, planned to establish a charity kitchen to provide free meals for the rest of the year. Between 2,500 and 4,000 meals were distributed every day in Aleppo, and the charity plans to distribute up to 40,000 meals every day. Another charity in the city, the al-Bir and al-Ihsan charity, provided 1,500 meals every day.Over 2,000 Syria Civil Defense (White Helmets) volunteers were sent to all the affected areas to conduct search and rescue efforts. With a lack of equipment and tools, they appealed to other humanitarian organizations for support. Officials on 7 February announced rescue and recovery efforts in Hama ended after 15 hours. Over 298,000 people were left without homes and 180 shelters were opened in government-held areas. About 30,000 people were housed in shelters in Aleppo. As of 10 February, no international rescue workers had arrived in rebel-held Jinderis despite official calls for help.United States sanctions against Syria relating to the blocking of banks and payment processors led to the banning of international charities and families attempting to send money to people affected in Syria. On 7 February 2023, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent urged Western countries to lift sanctions against Syria, saying the measures hurt civilians and humanitarian efforts during the earthquake recovery effort. The sanctions are a series of economic measures taken by the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, and the Arab League against the Assad regime from the start of the civil war in 2011. They include an oil embargo and the freezing of financial assets of the state and government officials. There were requests to lift or suspend the sanctions to aid humanitarian efforts following the earthquake.On 10 February, the United States announced it would exempt sanctions against Syria for 180 days. The ease of sanctions was for \"all transactions related to earthquake relief efforts\", according to the United States Department of the Treasury. The Syrian Ministry responded in a statement that the US' decision was \"misleading and aims to give a false humanitarian impression\" and that \"the facts on the ground proved its falsehood.\" Some commentators have argued that the sanctions do not pose a problem for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Syria.. International humanitarian assistance began entering northwestern Syria on 9 February via Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing. The first convoy of six trucks carried tents and sanitary items. Turkey said it was working to open two additional border crossings. On 10 February, 14 trucks carrying aid crossed from Turkey into Syria, according to the United Nations. The United States Central Command announced it would cooperate with Syrian Democratic Forces to assist the affected population in Syria. On 11 February, World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited Aleppo, accompanying a shipment of emergency medical supplies. On 12 February, all schools across Syria, except for those in the affected areas, were resumed since the earthquakes struck. Schools in Aleppo, Lattakia, Hama and Idleb remained closed. On 14 February, the Syrian government agreed to open the border crossings at Bab al-Salam and al Ra\u00e9e for three months.President al-Assad met UN relief chief Martin Griffiths met on 21 March to discuss post-earthquake recovery and aid. International humanitarian efforts. Countries. Arab League. Arab League secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit called for international assistance to help those affected by \"this humanitarian catastrophe\". ASEAN. The Secretariat of ASEAN expressed its heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the Governments and peoples of the affected countries, especially the families of the victims of the earthquake. ASEAN affirms its solidarity with the Governments and peoples of Turkiye and Syria in these trying times and stands ready to extend its assistance to the relief efforts. European Union (EU). The European Union's European Civil Protection Mechanism, in which Turkey participates despite not being a member of the EU, was activated at the request of Turkey. The EU dispatched thirty-one rescue teams and five medical teams from 23 member states to Turkey, committed \u20ac3 million and \u20ac3.5 million to Turkey and Syria respectively, and announced a donor conference to raise money. The Copernicus Programme was also activated to provide emergency mapping services and other help. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said that member countries were mobilizing support. The Strategic Airlift Capability was used to transport search and rescue equipment. NATO deployed \"fully equipped semi-permanent shelter facilities\" to house displaced persons in Turkey. Flags at NATO headquarters were also lowered to half-mast. A vessel carrying the first 600 of 1,000 containers for temporary housing left Taranto, Italy for Turkey to accommodate at least 4,000 people. United Nations (UN). Several United Nations agencies announced coordinated responses to the disaster, including UNDAC, OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF and IOM. The World Health Organization's Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said the organization's regional offices were assisting international efforts to transport medicine and relief equipment. The UN released $25 million from its emergency fund for humanitarian assistance in Turkey and Syria. A second $25 million grant was released for relief efforts in Syria. UN sent humanitarian aid to Syria through Turkey via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing. On 14 February, the UN appealed for \u20ac396 million to help survivors in Syria. World Bank. The World Bank said it would provide US$1.78 billion in aid for Turkey to support the relief and recovery process. \"We are providing immediate assistance and preparing a rapid assessment of the urgent and massive needs on the ground,\" said World Bank President David Malpass. Reactions. Criticism of the Turkish government. The Turkish Government was criticized on social media for allegedly trying to cover up the fact that there were not two, but three mainshocks above Mw\u202f7. However, professor Hasan S\u00f6zbilir, Director of Dokuz Eyl\u00fcl University (DEU) Earthquake Research and Application Center, told Anadolu Agency that there were only 2 mainshocks reaching above Mw\u202f7 between 6 and 17 February 2023, but of the smaller quakes, there was one that reached Mw\u202f6.7. Additional allegations were made when the death toll in Turkey was at 41,000, could in fact be up to five times higher. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government was accused of manipulating the death toll of the earthquakes to mask the scale of the disaster amid growing criticism due to what many say was a delayed and ineffective response to the tragedy.The collapse of many newly constructed buildings caused public anger and doubts about the Turkish construction and contracting industry following seismic codes. After the 1999 \u0130zmit earthquake, new building codes were enacted to make buildings more resilient to earthquakes. The quality of the concrete is often a factor in collapse, especially in older buildings, but the engineering and design of newer high rise buildings, and improper placement of support columns and beams, may contribute to collapse. The building codes, last updated in 2018, required quality standards in engineering design, construction and material. There were complaints that the building codes were poorly enforced.After the earthquake, Erdo\u011fan had claimed \"98 percent of the destroyed buildings were built in before 1999\" and described it \"as the indicator of an improvement in the quality of building codes and enforcement\". Erdo\u011fan's claim was criticized by civil engineer and earthquake engineering academic Haluk Sucuo\u011flu, stating that field observations and more than half of the buildings in earthquake-affected areas being built after 2000 making Erdo\u011fan's claims unlikely, though accepting that concrete data on the destroyed buildings do not exist yet. The comparison of historical satellite images with those taken after the earthquake, especially of those showing the destruction in the newly built area of western Kahramanmara\u015f, were used to dispute Erdo\u011fan's claim.In Ad\u0131yaman, the minister of transport and infrastructure, Adil Karaismailo\u011flu, and governor, Mahmut \u00c7uhadar, were met with protests by locals. The state car of the governor was also kicked by protesters. Turkish engineers previously warned that cities could become 'graveyards' with building amnesty. Critics of President Erdo\u011fan said contractors of housing projects were allowed to skip vital safety mandates which put residents at risk. Videos from several years ago showed President Erdo\u011fan applauding housing projects which eventually collapsed. During a campaign stop in anticipation of the March 2019 local elections, he listed, among his government's top attainment, new housing in Kahramanmaras. President Erdo\u011fan said \"We solved the problem of 144,156 citizens of Maras with zoning amnesty,\" In another video, he said \"We have solved the problems of 205,000 citizens of Hatay with zoning peace,\"Before the 2018 general election, 3.1 million buildings were granted amnesty certificates, according to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Secretary General Assistant and city planner, Bugra Gokce. In the ten affected provinces, 294,165 certificates were granted; 59,247 in Adana; 10,629 in Ad\u0131yaman; 14,719 in Diyarbak\u0131r; 40,224 in Gaziantep; 56,464 in Hatay; 39,58 in Kahramanmara\u015f; 4,897 in Kilis; 22,299 in Malatya; 21,107 in Osmaniye; and 25,521 in \u015eanl\u0131urfa. After a destructive earthquake struck \u0130zmir in 2020, Asia Times said the Turkish government generated US$2 billion in profit since the latest zoning amnesty law was approved in May 2018. During that earthquake, there were 811,000 certificates linked to illegal construction in \u0130zmir.The leader of the opposition in Parliament, Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu of the Republican People's Party (CHP), pinned responsibility for the scale of the disaster on President Erdo\u011fan. He demanded from the CHP mayors not to back down from providing bread and blankets to people in need and reject bureaucratic blocking as they did during the COVID-19 lockdown. It has also been reported that some donations from relief organizations arriving at the Adana airport were relabeled as assistance by the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) or also the governing AKP. Questions also arose as to how an \"earthquake tax\" (officially \"special communications tax\") levied by the Turkish government in the wake of the 1999 earthquake, estimated to have reached 88bn lira ($4.6bn; \u00a33.8bn) and meant to have been spent on disaster prevention and the development of emergency services, were spent, given how the government has never given a public explanation.Some Kurdish and Alevi residents alleged discrimination and neglect in the government's recovery efforts. The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) accused Turkish authorities of preventing equal distribution of aid and favoring areas inhabited majorly by people loyal to the governing AKP. Disaster management. AFAD, the state organ for the disaster relief, was criticized on the grounds of slowness during the first days of the earthquake. There were reports of unsuccessful attempts by people to contact AFAD. Emergency management academic Kubilay Kaptan stated that the delayed reaction of AFAD was mainly caused by the increasing centralization of Turkish emergency response agencies under the current government. According to Kaptan, numerous relief agencies were merged into AFAD in the past years and since the implementation of the referendum, AFAD became part of the Ministry of Interior, losing its autonomy and self-governance. Kaptan added that the Ministry of Interior, responsible for making decisions, hindered the fast response since the organization required approval for its actions, contrasting more independent agencies like FEMA in the United States. AFAD was also criticized on the claims of inappropriate board of management, since some members of the board had no disaster management background. \u0130smail Palako\u011flu, the general manager of disaster response subdivision of AFAD and a theologian who previously worked at the Directorate of Religious Affairs, was criticized by several politicians and media outlets.Another criticism was the late deployment of military resources. They were not mobilized for two days after the earthquake, and even then in what many considered in very modest amounts. There were many instances where aid was forced to go through local governors, who were not elected but appointed by the government. In some instances, aid was held by the ruling party with the explanation that it would be managed by AFAD. There were reports of aid trucks stopped and not let through unless ruling party placards and signs were placed on them, including stickers of the president placed on individual aid packages. On 16 February the district governor of Pazarcik accompanied by the gendarmerie seized aid stored in a distribution center established jointly by the HDP and the Hasankoca Neighborhood Assistance and Solidarity Association in presence of the head of the Diyarbak\u0131r Chamber of Industry arguing they could not distribute aid independently.On 9 February 2023, the governing alliance between the MHP and the AKP approved a state of emergency in 10 provinces affected by the earthquakes. The opposition voted no to the measure, claiming that it was unnecessary since the provinces were already declared as \"disaster areas\".A week after the earthquakes in Samanda\u011f, a coastal town in Hatay Province, residents dug through the rubble to look for victims because of the slow and limited government response. \"We have nothing left and the government barely helped us,\" one resident said, adding that assistance only came 48 hours after the earthquake. Media. NetBlocks announced that ICTA limited access to Twitter from Turkey, with Turkish government officials claiming disinformation. According to Reuters, citing an anonymous government official, the block was necessary \"because in some accounts there were untrue claims, slander, insults and posts with fraudulent purposes,\" The block caused public anger as Twitter assisted in sharing information on arriving aid and the whereabouts of survivors still trapped in rubble. The Peoples' Democratic Party said Twitter helped in organizing aid to the affected and the block would \"only cause more death.\" Ali Babacan, leader of the Turkey's opposition group, Democracy and Progress Party, also criticized the block.The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a statement critical of fines and penalties issued to Halk TV, Tele1, and Fox over their coverage of the earthquake by the Radio and Television Supreme Council. In addition to the fines, both Halk TV and TELE1 were required to suspend airing of the shows that had criticized the government for five days. The CPJ's statement said that Turkey officials should revoke both the fine and penalties along with refraining from silencing the media for its earthquake coverage. Criminal investigation in Turkey. On 7 February, Turkish police said they detained four people over \"provocative posts aiming to create fear and panic\" on social media following the earthquake. It added that a wider investigation into social media accounts was ongoing, but offered no information on the content of the posts. The number of detentions increased to a dozen on 8 February. Following reports of property being ransacked by looters, authorities arrested 98 people for robbery or defrauding victims. Syrians have faced increased discrimination in the country, with some Turks blaming them for the looting. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch alleged that Turkish security forces tortured and ill-treated individuals arrested on suspicion of looting. In a report from both organizations, one person died while being held by authorities. The report said allegations of torture came from 10 provinces, but most reports were in Antakya, Hatay Province.On 9 February, minister of justice, Bekir Bozda\u011f, said a judicial investigation into the collapse of buildings was opened. The probe attempts to hold accountable those who constructed the buildings or bore any responsibility for their collapse in the 10 hardest-hit provinces. Bozda\u011f said: \"Those who have negligence, faults and those responsible for the destructions after the earthquake will be identified and held accountable before the judiciary\". Nearly 150 local prosecutors were authorized to establish units to investigate contractors, surveyors and other experts linked to the collapsed buildings.On 11 February, the justice ministry announced the plan to establish the \"Earthquake Crimes Investigation\" bureaus. The bureaus aim to hold contractors and other responsible for construction, gathering evidence, recommendation experts; including architects geologists and engineers; and inspecting building permits and occupation permits. Vice President Fuat Oktay said 131 individuals linked to the collapse of buildings were identified.By 25 February, 612 people were investigated for their involvement in building collapses; 184 were arrested and awaiting trial. Those in jail included contractors and building owners and managers. On 12 February, the Adana Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued arrest warrants for 62 people; Thirty one arrests were made on 14 February. In Malatya, city prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 31 people.The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published an article on 14 February covering journalists being detained and harassed for their reporting on the earthquake in Turkey. Some of those detained were being investigated for \"spreading misinformation\" or for \"\"provoking the people into animosity and hatred\" in connection with their reporting.The owner of the Renaissance Residence which collapsed in Hatay Province was arrested in Istanbul while attempting to leave Turkey for Montenegro. In Gaziantep Province, two people were arrested after being suspected of cutting-down columns to make extra space in a building that collapsed. Bekir Bozda\u011f said 163 people were being investigated for their alleged involvement. Eight people were arrested and awaiting trial while 48 were held in police detention; another seven were prohibited from leaving Turkey. Officials detained two people at Istanbul Airport attempting to flee to Georgia. Among those arrested were a man and his wife who constructed several buildings in Adiyaman which collapsed. A contractor involved in developing the Bahar Apartments in Gaziantep was detained in Istanbul after his inspections were deemed negligent. The owner of a construction company which built several buildings in Adana was apprehended in Northern Cyprus.The majority of buildings that collapsed in Turkey were constructed before 2000, but some were constructed after that year. Following the 1999 earthquake, building construction followed new regulations and had improved materials. Sukru Ersoy, a geology professor at Y\u0131ld\u0131z Technical University, said \"corruption is high in the construction sector in Turkey. And therefore, there were abuses\". However, corruption was not always present in local authorities; in Erzin, which has a strict policy against the construction of buildings that violated safety codes in addition to having endured other earthquakes with less damage, became a popular location for survivors elsewhere to take refuge as no collapsed buildings were reported. National mourning. President Erdo\u011fan declared seven days of national mourning in Turkey on Twitter. Seven days of national mourning was observed in Northern Cyprus, and one day in Bangladesh and Kosovo. Albania's prime minister, Edi Rama, said 13 February would be a day of national mourning. On 13 February, all overseas diplomatic missions of North Macedonia lowered the North Macedonian flags to half-mast. Criticism by the Syrian government and opposition. Investigative reports revealed that Syrian government had deliberately obstructed aid to all of Syria's opposition-held areas, including the Idlib region, which was the worst-struck area in the earthquake. Syrian government officials and state-run media blamed United States and European Union sanctions against the country for the lack of humanitarian aid and hampering rescue. On 10 February, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad accused Western countries of having \"no regard for the human condition.\" The US Treasury said its sanctions \"contain robust exemptions for humanitarian efforts\" in the first place, and that after the earthquake it issued a blanket authorization for relief efforts. The United Nations has also been criticized for its policy of focusing aid shipments solely to the regime, at the expense of Syrian lives in opposition-held territories.Idlib region, under the control of Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), was one of the hardest-hit territories. Assad regime's policy of besieging North-West Syria; which blockades the supply of food, medicines and other humanitarian supplies, has further deteriorated the crisis in Idlib. Abu Muhammad Al-Julani, commander of the SSG-aligned Tahrir al-Sham rebel militia, criticized aid agencies of neglecting the situation in Idlib and called on the international community to be more proactive in reconstruction and relief efforts, adding that the \"United Nations needs to understand that it's required to help in a crisis\". Upon traveling to the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing bordering the rebel-held territories, UNOCHA Under-Secretary Martin Griffith stated on 12 February that \"We have so far failed the people in north-west Syria\". As of 13 February, Ankara and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army were accused of blocking aid convoys sent by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria from entering the north-west region.The United Nations criticized Russia's attempts to block delivery of aid through checkpoints to rebel-held territories. Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres urged the Security Council to immediately permit aid flows into Northwestern Syria. United States appealed for the immediate opening of all closed checkpoints to send in relief efforts to all parts of Syria; calling for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to increase humanitarian assistance through Bab al-Hawa and open up more border crossings for the entry of UN aid. St\u00e9phane Dujarric, a United Nations spokesperson, said on 14 February, \"some aid is getting into the north-west, pointing to 58 trucks that arrived with aid through the Bab Al-Hawa crossing.\" However, the organization does not possess heavy equipment or search and rescue teams. He stressed that the \"international community as a whole needs to step up to get that aid where it is needed.\". Raed al-Saleh, chief of Syrian Civil Defence, strongly rebuked the UN for its negligence and delay in responding to the rescue efforts:\"Let me be clear: The White Helmets received no support from the United Nations during the most critical moments of the rescue operations.. The UN's failure to respond quickly to this catastrophe is shameful. When I asked the UN why help had failed to arrive in time, the answer I received was bureaucracy. In the face of one of the deadliest catastrophes to strike the world in years, it seems the UN's hands were tied by red tape.\" Health concerns. Due to below-freezing temperatures in the affected areas in both Turkey and Syria, the mayor of Hatay, L\u00fctf\u00fc Sava\u015f, warned about the hypothermia risk. In Adiyaman Province, some residents trapped under rubble died from hypothermia.Concerns arose regarding the possible spread of infection in areas where sanitation facilities were damaged or unfunctional. Due to water shortage experienced in both countries, many survivors could not shower. International health organizations said the shortage of clean water would be a public health risk. The World Health Organization said water shortage \"increases the risk of waterborne diseases and outbreaks of communicable diseases.\"On 18 February, Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said there was an increase in intestinal and upper respiratory infection cases but \"numbers did not pose a serious threat to public health.\" At a stadium serving as shelter in Kahramanmara\u015f, a clinic managed by 15 to 30 medics attended up to 10,000 patients in the day. The clinic provided tetanus shots and sanitary items to residents. Many people at the stadium were unable to shower and the six toilets were unable to accommodate to the large number of people. In Antakya, residents said more portable toilets were needed.Health authorities in Turkey had to ensure earthquake survivors were free of disease. The World Health Organization collaborated with local authorities to monitor the rates of waterborne diseases, seasonal influenza and COVID-19 among the affected. ", "title": "2023 Turkey\u2013Syria earthquake", "qa_pairs": "[{'Q': 'How many buildings have been collapsed by the earthquake in malatya and Adiyaman combined?', 'A': '20,300', 'type': 'computation', 'S': ['In Ad?yaman Province, over 20,000 buildings and 56,600 apartments were destroyed.', 'At least 300 buildings were razed in Malatya.']}, {'Q': 'How many airports are directly effected by the earthquake in Turkey?', 'A': '4', 'type': 'computation', 'S': ['The ceiling of Malatya Erha? Airport experienced a partial collapse,[131] as did the historic Yeni Camii mosque.[132]', 'Gaziantep O?uzeli Airport was forced to restrict its service to rescue flights.', 'The runway of Hatay Airport was split and uplifted, causing flight cancellations.', 'The Ankara Metropolitan Municipality completed repairs on the airport on 12 February,[154] allowing its reopening.']}, {'Q': \"Which provinces' mosques have been affected by the earthquake in Turkey\uff1f\", 'A': 'Malatya, Gaziantep, Hatay, Ad?yaman and ?anl?urfa.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': ['At least 300 buildings were razed in Malatya. ......The ceiling of Malatya Erha? Airport experienced a partial collapse, as did the historic Yeni Camii mosque.', 'In Gaziantep, many of the historical sites were severely damaged, such as Gaziantep Castle,[136][137] ?irvani Mosque[138] and Liberation Mosque.', \"The building that housed the assembly of Hatay State was destroyed,[158] as was St. Paul's Church[159] In Hatay Province, ......and the Habib'i Neccar Mosque, while damage occurred at the Antakya Synagogue[160] and the Hatay Archaeology Museum.\", \"In Ad?yaman Province,......The city hall, a 6th-century mosque and G?lba?? District's state hospital were also destroyed.\", 'At least 466 buildings were heavily damaged in ?anl?urfa Province...... In Eyy\u00fcbiye District, the minaret of the Ey\u00fcp Prophet Mosque was damaged and removed.']}, {'Q': 'Besides Turkey and Syria, which other countries have residents been affected by the earthquake?', 'A': 'Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Armenia, Egypt, Palestine, Georgia, Greece, Iraq, Jordan and Russia.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': ['In Lebanon, residents were awakened from their sleep.', 'In Ashdod, Israel, a building was evacuated after cracks were observed in a pillar,[333] and Champion Motors Tower in Bnei Brak was slightly damaged by the second earthquake.', 'The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said shaking was felt in Armenia, Egypt, Palestine, Georgia, Greece, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, and Russia.']}, {'Q': \"According to World Bank's estimation, what is the difference between the amount of World Bank's aid to Turkey and the amount of damaged suffered by Syria?\", 'A': '3.32 Billion.', 'type': 'computation', 'S': ['In Syria, the World Bank estimated $5.1 billion in damages, excluding economic impact and losses.', 'The World Bank said it would provide US$1.78 billion in aid for Turkey to support the relief and recovery process.']}, {'Q': 'For rebel-held areas in Syria, besides earthquakes, what else could increase the number of 4,547 deaths', 'A': \"Investigative reports revealed that Syrian government had deliberately obstructed aid to all of Syria's opposition-held areas, including the Idlib region, which was the worst-struck area in the earthquake.[587] Syrian government officials and state-run media blamed United States and European Union sanctions against the country for the lack of humanitarian aid and hampering rescue.-Blizzard and holera Outbreak.\", 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': ['According to the International Rescue Committee, the earthquake struck when rebel-held areas were preparing for a blizzard and experiencing a cholera outbreak.', \"Investigative reports revealed that Syrian government had deliberately obstructed aid to all of Syria's opposition-held areas, including the Idlib region, which was the worst-struck area in the earthquake.[587] Syrian government officials and state-run media blamed United States and European Union sanctions against the country for the lack of humanitarian aid and hampering rescue.\", \"Investigative reports revealed that Syrian government had deliberately obstructed aid to all of Syria's opposition-held areas, including the Idlib region, which was the worst-struck area in the earthquake.[587] Syrian government officials and state-run media blamed United States and European Union sanctions against the country for the lack of humanitarian aid and hampering rescue.\"]}, {'Q': 'What effects did the earthquake indirectly cause which lead to floods in Turkey\uff1f', 'A': 'Dam burst, Canal damaged, Liquefaction and The Coast And Water Infrastructure damage.', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': ['The Associated Press, citing local residents, said the Afrin Dam had cracked.[247] On 9 February at 04:00, the dam burst and flooded the village of Al-Tloul, which was exacerbated by heavy rains along the Afrin River basin.', 'A major canal was damaged and lead to flooding in parts of the Amik Valley which was formerly Lake Amik.', 'Regular flooding in the city was observed after the earthquakes. Earlier flooding may be attributed to liquefaction while subsequent occurrences may be due to damage to the coast and water infrastructure.']}, {'Q': 'How many days after The Governing Alliance Between The MHP And The AKP Approved A State Of Emergency did A Mww?6.3 Aftershock happen in Hatay?', 'A': '11 days', 'type': 'computation', 'S': ['On 9 February 2023, the governing alliance between the MHP and the AKP approved a state of emergency in 10 provinces affected by the earthquakes.', 'A Mww?6.3 aftershock struck near Uzunba? in Hatay Province on 20 February; the earthquake was the result of oblique-normal faulting.']}, {'Q': 'What comments or activities did the President Erdo?an make on Twitter after the earthquake happened?', 'A': 'Erdo?an said on Twitter, \"search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched\" to the affected area, and declared seven days of national mourning in Turkey.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': ['President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said on Twitter, \"search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched\" to the affected area.', 'President Erdo?an declared seven days of national mourning in Turkey on Twitter.']}, {'Q': 'What kind of humanitarian help did WHO offer to Turkey and Syria?', 'A': 'Assisting international efforts to transport medicine and relief equipment and collaborating with Health authorities in Turkey to monitor the rates of waterborne diseases, seasonal influenza and COVID-19 among the affected.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': [\"The World Health Organization's Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said the organization's regional offices were assisting international efforts to transport medicine and relief equipment.\", 'The World Health Organization collaborated with local authorities to monitor the rates of waterborne diseases, seasonal influenza and COVID-19 among the affected.']}]", "output": "None"}
{"input": " Background. Shinzo Abe had served as Prime Minister of Japan between 2006 and 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020, when he resigned due to health concerns. He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japan's postwar history.. Nobusuke Kishi, his maternal grandfather, was Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960, and like Abe, was the target of an assassination attempt. Unlike Abe, he survived.Abe was the first former Japanese prime minister to have been assassinated since Sait\u014d Makoto and Takahashi Korekiyo, who were killed during the February 26 incident in 1936, the first Japanese legislator to be assassinated since K\u014dki Ishii was killed by a member of a right-wing group in 2002, and the first Japanese politician to be assassinated during an electoral campaign since Iccho Itoh, then-mayor of Nagasaki, who was shot dead during his mayoral race in April 2007. Relationship between Abe's family and the Unification Church. Abe, as well as his father Shintaro Abe and his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, had longstanding ties to the Unification Church (UC), a new religious movement known for its mass wedding ceremonies. Known officially as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), the movement was founded by Sun Myung Moon in Korea in 1954 and its followers are colloquially known as \"Moonies\". Moon was a self-declared messiah and ardent anti-communist.Nobusuke Kishi's postwar political agenda led him to work closely with Ryoichi Sasakawa, a businessman and nationalist politician during the Second World War. As Moon's advisor, Sasakawa helped establish the UC in Japan in 1963 and assumed the roles of both patron and president of the church's political wing, International Federation for Victory over Communism (IFVOC, \u56fd\u969b\u52dd\u5171\u9023\u5408), which would forge intimate ties with Japan's conservative politicians. In this way, Sasakawa and Kishi shielded what would become one of the most widely distrusted groups in contemporary Japan.Moon's organisations, including the UC and the overtly political IFVOC, were financially supported by Ryoichi Sasakawa and Yoshio Kodama.When the UC still had a few thousand followers, its headquarters was located on land once owned by Kishi in Nanpeidaich\u014d, Shibuya, Tokyo, and UC officials frequently visited the adjacent Kishi residence. By the early 1970s, UC members were being used by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as campaign workers without compensation. LDP politicians were also required to visit the UC's headquarters in South Korea and receive Moon's lectures on theology, regardless of their religious views or membership. In return, Japanese authorities shielded the UC from legal penalties over their often-fraudulent and aggressive practices. Subsequently, the UC gained much influence in Japan, laying the groundwork for its push into the United States and its later entrenchment.Such a relationship was passed on to Kishi's son-in-law, former foreign minister Shintaro Abe, who attended a dinner party held by Moon at the Imperial Hotel in 1974. In the US, the 1978 Fraser Report \u2013 an inquiry by the US Congress into American\u2013Korean relations \u2013 determined that, Kim Jong-pil, founder and director of the Korean C.I.A. an associate of Yoshio Kodama and from 1971 to 1975 Prime Minister of South Korea, had \"organized\" the UC in the early 1960s and was using it \"as a political tool\" on behalf of authoritarian President Park Chung Hee and the military dictatorship. In 1989, Moon urged his followers to establish their footing in Japan's parliament, then install themselves as secretaries for the Japanese lawmakers, and focus on those of [Shintaro] Abe's faction in the LDP. Moon also stressed that they must construct their political influence not only in the parliament, but also on Japan's district level.Shinzo Abe continued this relationship, and in May 2006, when he was Chief Cabinet Secretary, he and several cabinet ministers sent congratulatory telegrams to a mass wedding ceremony organised by the UC's front group, Universal Peace Federation (UPF, \u5929\u5b99\u5e73\u548c\u9023\u5408), for 2,500 couples of Japanese and Korean men and women.In spring 2021, the chairman of the UPF's Japanese branch, Masayoshi Kajikuri, called Abe and asked if the latter would consider speaking before an upcoming UPF rally in September if former US president Donald Trump also attended. Abe replied that he had to accept the offer should that be the case; he formally agreed to his participation on 24 August 2021. At the September rally, held ten months before the assassination, Abe stated to Kajikuri that, \"The image of the Great Father [Moon] crossing his arms and smiling gave me goosebumps. I still respectably remember the sincerity [you] showed in the last six elections in the past eight years.\" Kajikuri claimed that he originally invited three unnamed former Japanese prime ministers, but was turned down due to concern of being used as poster boys for UC's mission.According to research by Nikkan Gendai, ten out of twenty members in the Fourth Abe Cabinet had connections to the UC, but these connections were largely ignored by Japanese journalists. After the assassination, Japanese defence minister Nobuo Kishi, Abe's younger brother, was forced to disclose that he had been supported by the UC in past elections. Unification Church practices in Japan. The Japanese government certified the UC as a religious organisation in 1964; the Agency for Cultural Affairs classifies the UC as a Christian organisation. Since then the government was unable to prevent the UC's activities because of the freedom of religion guaranteed in the Constitution of Japan, according to Mitsuhiro Suganuma, the former section head of the Public Security Intelligence Agency's Second Intelligence Department.According to historians, up to 70% of the UC's wealth has been accumulated through outdoor fundraising rounds. Steven Hassan, a former UC member, engaged in the deprogramming of other UC members, describes these as \"spiritual sales\" (reikan sh\u014dh\u014d, \u970a\u611f\u5546\u6cd5), with parishioners scanning obituaries, going door-to-door, and saying, \"Your dead loved one is communicating with us, so please go to the bank and send money to the Unification Church so your loved one can ascend to heaven in the spirit world.\"Moon's theology teaches that his homeland Korea is the \"Adam country\", home of the rulers destined to control the world. Japan is the \"fallen Eve country\". The dogma teaches Eve had sexual relations with Satan and then seduced Adam, which caused mankind to fall from grace (original sin), while Moon was appointed to bring mankind to salvation. Japan must be subservient to Korea. This was used to encourage their Japanese followers into offering every single material belonging to Korea via the church.According to journalist Fumiaki Tada and other former UC followers, the conditions for Japanese followers to participate in the UC's mass wedding were substantially more difficult than Korean people, on grounds of \"Japan's sinful occupation of Korea\" between 1910 and 1945. In 1992, each Japanese follower needed to successfully bring three more people into the church, fulfill certain quota of fundraising by selling the church's merchandise, undergo a 7-day long fasting, and pay an appreciation fee of 1.4 million yen. For Korean people, the fee for attending the mass wedding was 2 million won (about 200 thousand yen in September 2022). Most Korean attendees were not followers of the church to begin with, as UC considered it was an honour for a Japanese woman to be married to a Korean man, like an abandoned dog being picked up by a prince. If the Japanese followers wanted to leave their partners of the mass wedding or the church, they would be told that they be damned to the \"hell of hell\".In 1987, about 300 lawyers in Japan set up an association called the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales (Zenkoku Benren) to help victims of the UC and similar organisations. According to statistics compiled by the association's lawyers between 1987 and 2021, the association and local government consumer centers received 34,537 complaints alleging that UC had forced people to make unreasonably large donations or purchase large amounts of items, amounting to about 123.7 billion yen. According to the internal data compiled by the UC which leaked to the media, the donation by the Japanese followers between 1999 and 2011 was about 60 billion yen annually. Timeline. Abe's schedule. Abe was initially scheduled to deliver a speech in Nagano Prefecture on 8 July 2022 in support of Sanshir\u014d Matsuyama, an LDP candidate in upcoming elections to the House of Councillors. That event was abruptly cancelled on 7 July following allegations of misconduct and corruption related to Matsuyama, and was replaced by a similar event in Nara Prefecture at which Abe was to deliver a speech in support of Kei Sat\u014d, an LDP councillor running for re-election. The LDP division in Nara Prefecture stated this new schedule was not generally publicly known, but NHK reported that the event had been widely advertised on Twitter and by sound truck. Nara police and Sat\u014d's campaign staff inspected the site on the evening before the incident, and the head of the prefectural police had approved of the security plan a few hours before the incident; one prefectural assembly member later said, \"I thought it was a dangerous place that made it easy to attack former Prime Minister Abe from the cars and bicycles that pass along the road behind him\".At approximately 11:10 a.m. on 8 July, Sat\u014d began speaking at a road junction near the north exit of Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara City. Abe arrived nine minutes later, and began his speech at around 11:29 am. He was accompanied by VIP protection officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department alongside VIP protection officers from the Nara Prefectural Police. Assassination. While Abe was delivering his speech, the alleged perpetrator, Tetsuya Yamagami, was able to approach within several metres, despite the presence of security. At around 11:30 am, when Abe said, \"Instead of thinking about why he [Sat\u014d] cannot do it ...\" (\u300c\u5f7c\u306f\u3067\u304d\u306a\u3044\u7406\u7531\u3092\u8003\u3048\u308b\u306e\u3067\u306f\u306a\u304f\u2026\u300d), he was shot at from behind with a homemade gun resembling a sawn-off, double-barreled shotgun capable of firing six bullets at a time. The first shot missed and prompted Abe to turn around, at which point a second shot was fired, hitting Abe in the neck and chest area. Abe then took a few steps forward, fell to his knees, and collapsed. Abe's security detained the suspect, who did not resist. According to security guards stationed during the assassination, the sound of the gunshot was very different from that of a conventional firearm, reminiscent of fireworks or tire blowout. This may explain the delay of response from Abe's bodyguards after the first round of gunshot. Treatment. Paramedics arrived on the scene at 11:37 am, and an ambulance later arrived at 11:41 am. Six out of the twenty-four emergency responders at the scene later showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Nara City Fire Department.Police sources told NHK that Abe was initially conscious and responsive after being shot. A doctor who arrived at the scene said there were no signs indicating Abe was conscious. Shortly thereafter, he was transported to a local hospital by emergency helicopter with a wound to the right side of his neck and internal bleeding under his left chest, arriving approximately fifty minutes after being shot. He was reported to have no vital signs when he arrived at Nara Medical University Hospital in Kashihara, likely due to cardiopulmonary arrest prior to his arrival. At 2:45 pm, a press conference was held by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who stated that Abe was in critical condition and that \"doctors [were] doing everything they [could]\". Death declaration. Abe's wife Akie arrived at the hospital at 4:55 pm. Despite doctors' efforts, Abe was pronounced dead at the hospital at 5:03 pm, around five and a half hours after being shot. He was 67 years old. Hidetada Fukushima, a doctor at the hospital, said the cause of Abe's death was blood loss, despite four hours of blood transfusions that saw the administration of 100 units of blood. Fukushima said that Abe was hit by two bullets and that one bullet was not found in Abe's body. The police autopsy concluded Abe died from loss of blood after a bullet damaged an artery under his collarbone. Visitations. Several hours after the assassination, both former prime minister Yoshihide Suga and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno visited the hospital where Abe's body was being held.The body was subject to a judicial autopsy and departed from the hospital with Abe's widow at 5:55 a.m. on 9 July. Five vehicles carrying various old professional acquaintances of Abe's, including former defence minister Tomomi Inada, took part in the motorcade conveying Abe's body back to his home in Tokyo. At 1:35 pm, the party arrived at Abe's Tokyo residence. On their arrival, Sanae Takaichi, the chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council, Tatsuo Fukuda, the chairman of the LDP General Council and Hisashi Hieda, the chairman of Fujisankei Communications Group and a friend of Abe's, received them. Afterwards, Kishida visited for condolences, and former prime ministers Yoshir\u014d Mori and Junichiro Koizumi, Hiroyuki Hosoda (Speaker of the House of Representatives), Akiko Sant\u014d (President of the House of Councillors), Toshihiro Nikai (former Secretary-General of the LDP), K\u014dichi Hagiuda (Abe's close aide and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry), Tetsuo Saito (a politician of Komeito and the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), and Yuriko Koike (the Governor of Tokyo) also visited for condolences. Suspect. Tetsuya Yamagami (\u5c71\u4e0a \u5fb9\u4e5f, Yamagami Tetsuya), a resident of Nara, was arrested at the scene of the assassination. He was 41 years old, had no prior criminal history, and was unemployed at the time of his arrest.Yamagami was born on 10 September 1980 in Mie Prefecture to affluent parents who ran a local construction business. Described as quiet and reserved in high school, he wrote in his graduation yearbook that he \"didn't have a clue\" what he wanted to do in the future. In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, a relative had stated that Yamagami had been struggling since childhood with the UC, of which his mother had become a member. After the death of his maternal grandfather, his mother inherited ownership of the family business. Aftermath. Effects on election. At 11:45 am, the Japanese government established a liaison office within the crisis management center of the Prime Minister's Office. Kishida, who was campaigning in Sagae, Yamagata Prefecture, cancelled his remaining schedule and returned to Tokyo by 2:29 pm. According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, all other members of Kishida's cabinet were recalled to Tokyo except the foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, who was in Indonesia for the 2022 G20 Bali summit. Kishida later ordered heightened security for high-ranking politicians in Japan. Officers from the Security Police were deployed to protect Akie Abe after she arrived in Kyoto as a precautionary measure.Most political leaders cancelled all campaign events for the remainder of 8 July. Campaigning resumed the day after, on 9 July, with major party leaders vowing to not allow violence to disrupt the democratic process. The LDP subsequently won a supermajority of seats in the House of Councillors in the 10 July elections. Effects on media broadcast. NHK General TV, and four of Japan's five major commercial television networks, cancelled or postponed all scheduled programming to broadcast live news coverage for the rest of the day, as did several radio stations. Of the shows impacted, the anime series Teppen\u2014!!! had its second episode, scheduled to air on 9 July, cancelled entirely due to the plot of the episode revolving around an attempted assassination. National Police Agency changes. On 20 August 2022, the National Police Agency announced that rules for conducting VIP protection will be revamped, which will also expand VIP protection training.The NPA announced that from 26 August 2022, they will examine all VIP protection plans from the prefectural police and will instruct them to make recommended changes if and when it is deemed necessary. The NPA also announced that they will extend their \"cyber patrol\" force which was originally established to monitor online illegal drug trade and child pornography to also swiftly identify potential threats against VIPs found on social media and take early counter measures. Resignation. On 25 August 2022, Commissioner General Itaru Nakamura of the National Police Agency said that he will resign from his post to take responsibility for the shooting incident on Abe. The chief of the Nara Prefectural Police Tomoaki Onizuka and the director general of the National Police Agency's Security Bureau Kenichi Sakurazawa also announced their resignation. Unification Church\u2013related. Responses by the Unification Church. The Unification Church distanced itself from the assassination and confirmed the involvement of Yamagami's mother with it by Tomihiro Tanaka, the chair of the church's Tokyo branch, during a press conference on 11 July.. Tanaka expressed his sorry and heartfelt condolences. He confirmed that Yamagami was not a UC member, but his mother joined in 1998, temporarily disappeared in 2009, and participated monthly in church events for the last half-year. Tanaka stated that the mother was bankrupted around 2002, and there is no record of such donation requests. He said that is a mystery what could lead from the resentment against the Church to the murder, and the Church will cooperate with Police to establish a motive if asked.. Tanaka also downplayed the alleged close tie between the organisation and Abe, stating that the former prime minister, not being a registered member or advisor, only delivered speeches for their \"friendly entity\", the UPF.On 14 July, the UC released a statement claiming that before the assassination, they reached an agreement to refund 50 million yen donated by the suspect's mother from 2004 to 2015, and that they have no more record of new donations made by her after the refund. On the other hand, the 50 million yen refunded was again donated to the UC, according to the suspect's relatives.At a press conference in Seoul on 19 July 2022, Chung Hwan Kwak, a prominent leader in the UC, apologised and stated that the organisation was responsible for Abe's death, saying: \"I feel a deep responsibility [for the attack on Abe] because I heard that the motive of the attacker was associated with a grudge against donations [at the UC]. I sincerely apologize,\" he said. Kwak said that Sun Myung Moon enjoyed a close relationship with Abe's father and grandfather, stating: \"Donations from Japan have greatly contributed to Moon's activities around the world\". Kwak argued that he tried to reform the UC's Japanese branch and end the practice of spiritual sales, but that Jung Ok Yoo and other church leaders resisted and allowed the practice to continue. South Korean church officials and the Japanese branch, on the other hand, denied Kwak's claim.The UC claimed that negative media reports related to the assassination led to hate speech and death threats against their followers. According to a female receptionist working at the Shibuya office of the UC she has been receiving two to three trolling letters every day, some containing home rubbish and even replacement razors. On 18 August 2022, the church organised a rally in Seoul against the Japanese media. About three thousand followers, comprising a considerable portion of Japanese women married to Korea via the UC's mass weddings, were transported from their facility in Gapyeong County via coaches to participate in this protest. All participants refused to be interviewed by any Japanese media on site, with deliberate intervention from the staff of the church. On 21 August, the UC released a statement on its Japanese site which condemned the media's scrutiny towards the organisation's political ties as a witch hunt, demanding apologies to their followers and threatening legal action. On 27 October 2022, the lawyers representing the UC announced that they filed a civil case for defamation against TBS Radio, Nippon TV and the guests who commentated on their shows, Masaki Kito and Yoshifu Arita, demanding public apologies and a total of 33 million yen in damage.In an interview with All-Nippon News Network, Korean journalist Song Ju-yeol (\uc1a1\uc8fc\uc5f4) revealed that, according to an informant, the assassination had thrown the UC into a state of crisis. Negative attention towards the church could realistically impede their capability to raise the funds needed for operating the organisation globally, in which a major portion was contributed by their Japanese followers. The 2023 new year greeting by Tomihiro Tanaka for a private meeting was leaked and reported by media, in that Tanaka addressed to their second generation followers to prepare for a climactic battle against religious persecution, as \"2023 marked the 400th anniversary of persecution against Christianity in Japan beginning in 1623\". Responses from the Kishida Cabinet. The assassination resulted in renewed public interest into the relationship between the UC and the LDP. On 31 July 2022, Kishida demanded the members of his party to \"carefully explain\" their relationship with the church to the public. The alleged relationship caused the Kishida Cabinet's approval to drop, by 8% in July according to Yomiuri Shimbun or by 13% according to NHK. Both polls also showed that over 80% of respondents felt that the disclosure by the politicians of their relationship with the UC was insufficient. On 6 August, Kishida announced that he would reshuffle his cabinet on 10 August, much earlier than September 2022 as had been originally scheduled, and that all members of the next cabinet would be closely examined of their ties with the church. Taro Kono, the newly appointed Minister of Digital Affairs in this reshuffle, established a \"Spiritual Sales Review Committee\" in the Consumer Affairs Agency to hold weekly meeting with experts in cult-related frauds, including Masaki Kito of the anti-cult lawyers network Zenkoku Benren. In a 9 December 2022 consumer committee special meeting, Kono stated that he personally recognises the Unification Church as a \"cult\".On 24 October 2022, one of the retaining ministers in the reshuffled cabinet, Daishiro Yamagiwa, announced his resignation as the Minister of Economic Revitalization, after being criticised for his past engagements with the UC, announcing his ties with the UC only after the reshuffle to the public, and unsatisfactory responses regarding his participations in the UC-related events such as \"I have no memory\" or \"I have no record\" when being questioned by the media and opposition lawmakers. Civil responses. Almost a year before the assassination, in September 2021, the anti-cult lawyers group Zenkoku Benren sent an open protest letter to Shinzo Abe, after he had sent the video message to an online meeting of the Universal Peace Federation. In the letter, the lawyers protested that his video message constituted an \"endorsement,\" stating: \"We urge you to think carefully about this for the sake of your own honour.\"On 11 July 2022, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward lawyers of Zenkoku Benren held a press conference in response to the assassination. After offering their condolences to Abe, they objected to the UC's claims that it reformed its practices in 2009 after it came under police investigation. Hiroshi Yamaguchi, an advocacy group representative, said that the UC's \"explanation that there is no coercion of donations is a lie.\" The amount of damages reported by victims in Japan has been higher in recent years, the lawyers said, totalling 5.1 billion yen in more than 400 cases between 2017 and 2020. They emphasised that the activities of the UC are inseparable from front groups, including the UPF, they are all part of a \"religious conglomerate\" working toward the goal of \"unifying\" the world under their church. The advocacy group released a statement urging politicians to refrain from any actions that express support for the religious group.The Japan Federation of Bar Associations indicated that: \"Neither administrative bodies or politicians in the administration did anything about the activities of the former UC in the past 30 years\".The National Family Association of Victims of the Unification Church (\u5168\u56fd\u7d71\u4e00\u5354\u4f1a\u88ab\u5bb3\u8005\u5bb6\u65cf\u306e\u4f1a), founded in 2003, received a surge of inquiries for helping their family members leave the UC. In June 2022, before the assassination, there were eight inquiries for the association; in July 2022, the number of inquiries jumped to 94; in August 2022, the number exceeded 100.Because there were previous instances of students lured into the UC via the workers of \"CARP\" (for Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles), a UC-front organisation which was not acknowledged by the university, lingering around the campus, Osaka University erected warning signs in the campus to urge students to avoid cult-related groups like CARP. The signs listed the common behaviours of the workers of such group like asking for personal contact or taking survey. Since 2004, Osaka University provided lectures to all first-year students about the problems with religious cults and how to deal with them on campus. Many other schools, including Waseda University, Keio University and Ritsumeikan University, warned first-year students about on-campus recruitment activities. According to World CARP Japan (WCJ), the Japanese organisation of CARP, there are about 30 CARP-circles active in universities across Japan, where they help clean up communities and teach primary school children. Examination of dissolving the Unification Church. The assassination raised discussion of stripping the UC of its \"legal entity of religious organization\" status based on Article 81 \"Dissolution Order\" of the Religious Juridical Person Law which was only issued twice in Japan prior to Abe's assassination, the first being the Aum Shinrikyo in 1996 following the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack; the second being My\u014dkakuji (\u660e\u899a\u5bfa) in Wakayama in January 2002 whose top officials had been convicted for employing fraudulent spiritual sales tactics to attract massive donations from their believers. The rationales being that the UC was engaging in activities which were \"clearly detrimental to the public welfare\" and/or \"out of line with the purpose of the religious organization.\" Professor of constitutional law Shigeru Minamino said that stripping the religious status of an organisation does not violate the religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution of Japan, but it would merely strip them of benefits such as tax break enjoyed by registered religious entity. In October 2022, the leaders of the Aum Shinrikyo's succeeding unregistered religious groups, Aleph and Hikari no Wa, answered to media interviews that their religious activities had not been hindered by the government since the 1996 dissolution order.Since Abe's assassination, a woman under the pseudonym \"Sayuri Ogawa\" (\u5c0f\u5ddd \u3055\u3086\u308a) as one of the former UC followers, who suffered financially and mentally, has become outspoken about her past experiences of how she was exploited by the church and her own parents. On 14 September 2022, she was arranged by the Japan News Network to speak face to face with the Minister of Justice Yasuhiro Hanashi on air and demanded passing new laws to regulate the malpractices of the UC and protect children from religious parents. On 6 October 2022, she and her husband held a press conference to explain their view on the church and why they feel exploited, which was interrupted by a message sent by her parents via the UC, who accused her of lying pathologically due to her mental illness. By the end of the press conference, she demanded the dissolution of the UC in tears.On 11 October 2022, the anti-cult lawyers group Zenkoku Benren formally submitted a request for disbanding the UC to the Prosecutor-General, Minister of Justice and Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Initially the Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno responded that the request must be considered with utmost prudence with regards of the precedents. On 16 October 2022, Prime Minister Kishida announced a probe of the UC would be launched regarding the allegations of their anti-social activities, and suggested the possibility of dissolving the UC depending on the report of the investigation. On the next day, organisations of anti-cultism and cult victims initiated an online petition demanding government officials to strip the UC of its religious juridical person status. As of 6 December 2022, the petition has garnered over 200 thousand signatures. Legislation to restrict donations to religious organisations and provide relief to victims. On 10 December, the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors passed two bills to restrict the activities of religious organisations such as the UC and provide relief to victims. These bills were designed to address social problems caused by the UC and the political parties and the media saw these bills as a way to restrict \"cults\" in the process leading up to the legislation.The new law stipulates prohibited acts and duty of care for juridical persons, including religious organisations, when soliciting donations. Prohibited acts include the following: a juridical person must not induce the donor to borrow money or sell their home or fields in order to raise the funds for the donation, a juridical person must not accompany the donor to a place from which the donor is unable to leave, and a juridical person must not prevent the donor from consulting with someone. The duty of care is that the juridical person shall not suppress the free will of the soliciting subject and that the solicitation shall not make life difficult for the soliciting subject's family. If a juridical person commits a prohibited act, a correction order is issued, and a person who repeatedly violates the order is subject to imprisonment for up to one year and a fine of up to 1,000,000 yen. If a juridical person violates its duty of care, the name of the juridical person will be made public. It was also stipulated that contracts for donations or sales of goods through spiritual sales, i.e. inducing psychological fear or promising spiritual salvation, can be revoked up to 10 years after the contract is concluded and up to three years after the target of the solicitation becomes aware of the damage. In addition, it is also stipulated that donations contracted while the target of the solicitation is under brainwashing can be cancelled. The law also stipulates that the victim's family can also revoke the donation due to improper solicitation, and that the victim or his/her family can claim from the juridical person the amount of past damages as well as living expenses and child support that the child or spouse is entitled to in the future. The new law then defines spiritual sales, in which a contract can be rescinded, as soliciting donations or selling goods after taking advantage of the anxiety of the target of the solicitation or causing the target of the solicitation to become anxious. Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety Taro Kono will have jurisdiction over these laws.These bills were supported by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, and opposition parties the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), Nippon Ishin no Kai, and Democratic Party for the People, and opposed by the opposition parties the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) and the Reiwa Shinsengumi. The CDP had opposed the bills, seeking legislation to more strictly restrict religious organisations, but switched to support it after a clause to review the law two years later was specified in the bills. According to the CDP and some Unification Church victims, legislation to restrict religious organisations even more strictly is needed. The JCP had proposed another bill to restrict religious organisations and therefore opposed the bills. Sayuri Ogawa, who was invited to spectate the parliament when the bills were being passed, was grateful of the new laws to be made in such a tight schedule of the parliament, but she also stressed that there are still many challenges ahead [surrounding the UC and its victims] with the most pressing one being passing new bill protecting children from religious abuse; Lawyer Hiroshi Yamaguchi who represents Zenkoku Benren wished that there would have been more time to make a solid bill. He worried that under the new laws it would still be difficult to prove that the claimant's free will was being suppressed when accepting the transaction, also the definition of what allows the victim's child or spouse to demand restitution on behalf of their relative was too narrow to be practical. Wake and funeral. In the afternoon of 11 July, Abe's casket was transported to the Z\u014dj\u014d Temple in Shiba Park of the Minato ward of Tokyo, where several feudal shoguns are buried. A wake for Abe began at 6:00 p.m. Over 2,500 people attended, according to the LDP.A Buddhist funeral for Abe took place at Z\u014dj\u014d Temple on the next day. The ceremony, conducted by priests from the J\u014dd\u014d-sh\u016b tradition, was restricted to Abe's family and select others from the LDP. Following the funeral, Abe's casket was transported through the Nagatach\u014d district with large crowds watching the procession from the pavements. The casket was driven past LDP headquarters, the National Diet Building and the Prime Minister's Office before being taken to Kirigaya Funeral Hall in the Shinagawa ward for a private funeral. During the funeral, Abe received a posthumous name that reflected his life on the political stage. A farewell ceremony has been planned for sometime after the funeral and the traditional 49-day mourning period. The location is planned to be within the Yamaguchi 4th district and within Tokyo.On 12 August 2022, the UPF held an international conference in Seoul which was attended by foreign dignitaries such as Mike Pompeo, Newt Gingrich, and Stephen Harper. None of the dignitaries from Japan attended. Part of the venue was dedicated to giving a memorial service for Abe. While not attending personally, Donald Trump and Mike Pence's video messages were also played during the event. The event stated that Abe died while participating in a movement for peace. State funeral. On 14 July 2022, six days after the assassination, the Kishida Cabinet formally decided a state funeral of Abe to be held on 27 September at the Nippon Budokan. The cost of the entire ceremony would be paid by the national coffer, drawn from the \"annual contingency fund\" which was meant for emergency situations like natural disasters. On 26 August, the cabinet approved a budget of 249.4 million yen (about US$1.8 million in August 2022) which did not include the cost of security, but in an estimation announced by the cabinet on 6 September, the grand total of the actual cost with inclusion of security (800 million yen), hosting foreign dignitaries (600 million yen) and other miscellaneous cost (10 million yen) would be at least 1.66 billion yen. The cabinet made the decision without seeking consensus in the parliament, but attempted to convince the opposing lawmakers after they finalised the decision. Kishida insisted pushing forward the state funeral on the grounds of Abe being the longest serving prime minister of Japan, as well as his achievements on domestic affairs and foreign policies. On the other hand, Kishida reaffirmed that, similar to Yoshida's state funeral, the government would only plead with, but not mandate the public to mourn Abe during his state funeral.There was one precedent of a state funeral for a post-war Japanese leader, Shigeru Yoshida, held in 1967 which cost 18 million yen in taxpayer funds. Originally the \"State Funeral Decree\" (\u56fd\u846c\u4ee4) was enacted in 1926 by the end of Taisho period. Articles three and five stipulated that the \"prime minister shall conduct a state funeral for any one who made exceptional contribution to the country not of the imperial family under the Emperor's decree\". After the Second World War, the new Constitution of Japan went into effect in 1947, and the State Funeral Decree was declared null and void. Although the state funeral for Yoshida decided by the then Prime Minister Eisaku Sat\u014d lacked any constitutional basis, by that time, only the Japanese Communist Party opposed the decision. Post-war funerals for the Emperor of Japan, while technically following the custom of a state funeral, have been known as the \"Ceremony of the Imperial Funeral\" since 1947. Attendees. Kishida's determination to hold Abe's state funeral was described by the media as a form of \"funeral diplomacy\" to convey his will to inherit Abe's legacy domestically and internationally. However, when compared to the state funeral of Elizabeth II held on 19 September, one week before Abe's state funeral, the media pointed out that the foreign dignitaries attending Abe's funeral were less influential, comprising mostly former heads of state, and none of the incumbent leaders of the G7 attended. Nippon TV cited an anonymous government official who explained that many leaders who attended Elizabeth II's funeral were unsure if it was appropriate to conduct two consecutive trips abroad in such a short period of time. All-Nippon News cited another official who commented that there were almost no notable foreign dignitaries who could attend, and that Kishida was wrong for being overly optimistic of his \"funeral diplomacy\" plan. Among those who received but eventually turned down invitations were Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Angela Merkel, and Emmanuel Macron. Justin Trudeau cancelled his schedule three days before the funeral as Hurricane Fiona, a category 4 tropical cyclone, was causing serious damage across Atlantic Canada.Representatives from 218 foreign countries, regions and international organisations attended the funeral, which included heads of state and government as well as ambassadors and cabinet members.On 20 September 2022, former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan stated that he would not attend Abe's state funeral. Kan's predecessor, former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama also did not attend Abe's state funeral. Reactions to state funeral. The decision to hold a tax-funded state funeral was a radically different from the funerals for other post-war Japanese leaders, which had been jointly organised and funded by the Cabinet and the LDP. It was met with mixed reactions, as there was no legal founding that clarified eligibility or how a state funeral should be conducted. An injunction requesting a suspension to the Cabinet's decision and budget for the event had been filed at the district courts in Tokyo, Saitama, Yokohama and Osaka by civil groups on 21 July, which stated the lack of parliamentary approval and infringement of a constitutional right to freedom of belief. All these lawsuits were dismissed by all courts on 9 September. On 12 September, the Japan Congress of Journalists (JCJ) issued an appeal letter in opposition to Abe's state funeral, citing unfavorable polling data of the state funeral across the news agencies. The letter condemned the 2015 Japanese military legislation (legalisation of Japan's right to collective self-defense), one of Abe's controversial legacies during his tenure, which was described by JCJ as destroying the Constitution and peace diplomacy of Japan, but Kishida attempted to praise such legacy via a state funeral paid by taxpayers' money. Anti-cult journalist Eito Suzuki expressed his concern that Abe's state funeral could be used by the Unification Church to lure more victims into their organisation because of Abe's overt endorsement of their leader Hak Ja Han. On 22 September, in a third press conference held by the Unification Church in response to the assassination and spiritual sales, they would announce their support for Abe's state funeral out of \"tremendous respect\" for Abe.Opponents of the state funeral organised public rallies. One on 22 July, about 400 people gathered before the Prime Minister's Office. A second one on 16 August had more than a thousand people marching peacefully on the street of Shinjuku in Tokyo. A third one on 31 August organised by the opposition parties saw more than 2500 people protesting before the National Diet Building. On 19 September, two separate anti-state-funeral rallies occurred in Shibuya and Sapporo. On 21 September 2022, a man, believed to be in his 70s, set himself alight near the Prime Minister's Office, after apparently writing an anti-state funeral note.On the day of the state funeral, about 200,000 police officers were deployed around Budokan to maintain law and order. About 3,000 opponents of the state funeral, led by opposing parties, marched from the Diet to Budokan. On their way, they clashed physically with proponents, while police officers attempted to separate the two parties outside of Budokan.In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, many people were in favour of a state funeral, partly due to the shock. As the controversial relationships of the conservative ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the UC were revealed in an investigation, public opinion began to voice \"opposition to state funerals\". Koji Nakakita, a professor of political science at Hitotsubashi University, commented on the reason for the increase in public opinion against the state funeral, saying, \"The biggest problem is the issue of the former Unification Church. When the shooting occurred, some people sympathized with it as 'blasphemy against democracy'. However, the tide turned sharply when the problems of the cult came to the surface.\" He pointed out that Abe and others had received cooperation from the cult during the national elections, commenting, \"Was the former Unification Church used to win?\" Memorial. In the aftermath of the assassination, the Nara City government considered erecting a monument on the site where Abe was shot. After opposition from residents, the plans were abandoned, and an unmarked flowerbed that was part of an already planned redevelopment scheme of the area now serves as a de facto memorial. The exact spot of Abe's assassination is the middle of a newly repaved road that was opened for traffic in April 2023. Misinformation. Video capturing the surrounding area of the assassination from the sky by the television station was widely shared online by conspiracy theorists as a proof of Abe's death by sniper rifle, instead of Yamagami's homemade gun, from the roof of the nearby shopping mall Sanwa City Saidaiji. The conspiracy theory claimed that there was a white tent spotted on the roof of the mall in the video, and that tent was used as a hideout by the sniper. The management company of Sanwa City Saidaiji clarified that the tent was set up for the purpose of cleaning the ventilation ducts, and denied the possibility that it could have been used by anyone without authorisation. A comedian admitted that he was responsible for spreading this conspiracy theory online. After receiving criticism, he published an apology video on YouTube.Several media outlets misidentified the video game developer Hideo Kojima as the assassin. The misreporting allegedly stemmed from jokes on the online message board 4chan and Twitter that were taken as fact and subsequently published by the far-right French politician Damien Rieu, the Greek news outlet ANT1, and the Iranian website Mashregh News. ANT1 additionally reported that the suspect was \"passionate about Che Guevara\". ANT1 uploaded the broadcast to its YouTube account, but later removed it. Rieu took down the original tweet and issued an apology. Kojima's company, Kojima Productions, condemned the false reports and threatened legal action against those perpetuating the rumour.Some social media users also falsely claimed that a fabricated tweet by Abe, detailing supposed information that could incriminate Hillary Clinton, led to his death. Copycat threats. Thirty minutes after the shooting, a threatening phone call was made to Matsuyama's office, where Abe had been initially scheduled to deliver a speech. A suspect was arrested on 9 July for making threats.The Hyogo prefectural police are investigating a death threat and resignation demand for Akashi Mayor Fusaho Izumi, who previously served as an aide to the assassinated lawmaker K\u014dki Ishii.Hours after the shooting, online assassination threats were made in Singapore and Taiwan against their respective leaders, Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and Republic of China president Tsai Ing-wen. In Singapore, a 45-year-old man was arrested after his threats online were reported to the police. In Taiwan, the threat came from a 22-year-old man in Tainan, who was arrested at his home in Yongkang District.Thailand additionally tightened security around its government officials and planned to increase security at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, due to be hosted in Bangkok on 17\u201318 November. Reactions. Domestic. Incumbent prime minister Fumio Kishida called the assassination an \"unforgivable act\" and an \"act of cowardly barbarism\". Noting that Abe was shot while delivering a campaign speech, Kishida also denounced the assassination as an attack on Japan's democracy and vowed to defend a \"free and fair election at all costs\".Before Abe's death was announced, Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike stated that \"no matter the reason, such a heinous act is absolutely unforgivable. It is an affront against democracy.\" Kazuo Shii, chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, called the assassination \"barbaric\", an attack on free speech and an act of terrorism in a post to Twitter. Tomohiko Taniguchi, a former advisor to Abe, compared his death to the assassination of John F. Kennedy in terms of likely social impact in Japan.Tomoaki Onizuka, head of Nara Prefecture Police, acknowledged security lapses at the political rally where Abe was killed, and pledged to identify and resolve the flaws, \"It is undeniable that there were problems with the security for former prime minister Abe, and we will immediately identify the problems and take appropriate measures to resolve them\".On 11 July, Kishida's cabinet decided to award Abe Junior First Rank (Ju Ichi'i (\u5f93\u4e00\u4f4d)), as well as the Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum and Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (Dai Kun'i Kikkash\u014d Keishoku (\u5927\u52f2\u4f4d\u83ca\u82b1\u7ae0\u9838\u98fe)) effective 8 July, making Abe the fourth former prime minister since Yasuhiro Nakasone to be conferred the Collar under the current Constitution. International. In response to the shooting and Abe's subsequent death, representatives of numerous countries, including present and former world leaders, expressed their condolences.Anthony Albanese, prime minister of Australia, said that Japan had emerged as \"one of Australia's most like-minded partners in Asia\" under Abe's leadership. Albanese also mentioned Abe's foreign policy contributions, adding that the \"Quad and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership are in many ways the results of his diplomatic leadership\". Albanese said that Abe's legacy was \"one of global impact, and a profound and positive one for Australia\". Landmarks in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Perth were lit up in red and white, and flags were flown at half-mast on the day of the funeral.National days of mourning were declared in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia, Cuba and Sri Lanka, with all countries flying their flags at half-mast on their respective days of mourning. In Bangladesh, a day of state mourning was declared for 9 July. Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, ordered three days of national mourning in Brazil, which is home to the world's largest population of Japanese descent outside of Japan. Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, announced that India would observe a day of national mourning on 9 July; Modi's reaction was regarded by some as an extremely personal one compared to other world leaders particularly for his addressal of the former Prime Minister as \"Abe-san\" in his blog where he paid tributes. Nepal and Bhutan declared their respective days of mourning for 9 July. Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen announced 10 July as a day of national mourning with entertainment venues being closed for that day. Cuba observed a day of national mourning on 11 July. On 12 July, Sri Lanka observed a day of national mourning with its flag flown at half-mast on state buildings. While formal mourning days were not proclaimed in Thailand, the government did fly flags at half-mast on 8 July, and the Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha paid a visit to the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok to pay respects in person.United States President Joe Biden ordered flags of the United States to be flown at half-staff until 10 July 2022, and visited the Japanese embassy to sign a condolence book. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unscheduled stop in Tokyo per request from President Biden, en route from the G20 Summit to the US, then met with PM Kishida to offer condolences in person, and shared letters that President Biden had written to the Abe family. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen cancelled her visit to the Port of Yokohama during her visit to Japan, which was scheduled prior to the assassination of Abe. Yellen, alongside the Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, attended Abe's wake at Z\u014dj\u014d Temple on 11 July. Back in the US, members of both the Democratic and Republican parties offered tributes to Abe.The European Council released a photo and video library in memory of Abe, featuring the former prime minister's diplomatic interactions with leaders across the EU.Israeli President Isaac Herzog paid tribute to Abe as \"one of Japan's most preeminent leaders in modern times\", noting that he had been \"deeply impressed\" by Abe's \"leadership, vision and respect for Israel\" during his visit to the Jewish state in 2018.Releasing a joint statement, the leaders of the Quad nations of Australia, India, and the United States noted that the organisation would redouble its work towards \"a peaceful and prosperous region\" in honour of Abe. The White House noted that Abe played a formative role in the founding of the Quad partnership and worked tirelessly to advance a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. In his official statement regarding the assassination, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau seconded the calls made by the Quad.President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Tsai Ing-wen announced that the nation would observe a national day of mourning on 11 July, with the flag of Taiwan flown at half-mast. Taipei 101 was also illuminated in multiple messages mourning the death of Abe. Lai Ching-te, Taiwan Vice-president, visited Abe's residence as a special envoy of President Tsai to mourn Abe, along with Frank Hsieh, Taiwan's envoy to Japan, on 11 July. Lai became the highest-ranking Taiwanese official to visit Japan in 50 years after Japan severed its diplomatic relationship with Taiwan in 1972 in favour of China. Individuals, non-governmental organisations and sports. The University of Southern California (USC) paid special condolences to Abe, who attended the university for three semesters studying English and Public Policy during a study abroad program. USC's president Carol Folt personally sent her own condolences.The International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Thomas Bach, recognised Abe for being instrumental in securing the 2020 Summer Olympics for Tokyo before his tenure ended in 2020 as well as his \"vision, determination and dependability\" that enabled the IOC to make an unprecedented decision to postpone the Olympics by a year. The Olympic flag was flown in Lausanne at half-mast for three days.Despite official condolences sent by the Chinese and South Korean governments, many Chinese and South Korean internet users were unsympathetic to Abe's death. This stemmed from grievances concerning historical colonialism and war crimes by Imperial Japan, and towards nationalist Japanese politicians \u2013 including Abe \u2013 who denied or questioned some accounts of the atrocities. In Japan, the assassination led to a renewed level of scrutiny of the ties between the Unification Church and the Liberal Democratic Party, with the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun running an editorial denouncing the LDP's ties to the organisation; anti-Unification Church slogans trended in Japan on social media platforms, and an online petition was launched seeking to deny Abe state honours due to his ties to the group. As of August 2022, approval for the Kishida government had fallen by 12%, and polling suggested that a majority of Japanese citizens were opposed to Abe being given a state funeral.The UN Security Council paid tribute to Abe, saying, \"He will be remembered as a staunch defender of multilateralism, respected leader, and supporter of the United Nations.\"The American magazine Time unveiled the cover of its next issue, prominently featuring Abe's portrait in black and white. This will be Abe's fourth time featured on the magazine, with Time writing Abe would be \"remembered for remaking Japan\". ", "title": "Assassination of Shinzo Abe", "qa_pairs": "[{'Q': \"What factors led to Abe's assassination, to name two or three\", 'A': \"1. Dangerous geographical location UC has a grudge against Shinzo Abe.?\\n2. The gunfire is different from others/the police officer's response is slow.\", 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': [\"the sound of the gunshot was very different from that of a conventional firearm,?\\nreminiscent of fireworks or tire blowout. This may explain the delay of response from Abe's bodyguards after the first round of gunshot.[77]\", \"Yamagami told investigators that he had shot Abe in relation to a grudge he held\\nagainst the Unification Church (UC), to which Abe and his family had political ties, over his mother's bankruptcy in 2002.[10][2] The\\nassassination brought scrutiny from Japanese society and media against the UC's alleged practice of pressuring believers into making\\nexorbitant donations.\", 'thought it was a dangerous place that made it easy to attack former Prime Minister Abe from the cars and bicycles that pass along the road behind him\".[60]']}, {'Q': 'How long did it take from the assassination of Shinzo Abe to the declaration of death?', 'A': 'From 11\uff1a30 to 5\uff1a03 pm, it took 5 hours and 33 minutes.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': ['At 2:45 pm, a press conference was held by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who stated that Abe was in critical condition\\nand that \"doctors [were] doing everything they [could]\".[84]', 'Paramedics arrived on the scene at 11:37 am, and an ambulance later arrived at 11:41 am.[78] Six out of the twenty-four emergency responders at?\\nthe scene later showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Nara City Fire Department.', 't around 11:30 am, when Abe said, \"Instead of thinking about why he [Sat\u014d] cannot do it ...\" (\u300c\u5f7c\u306f\u3067\u304d\u306a\u3044\u7406\u7531\u3092\u8003\u3048\u308b\u306e\u3067\\n\u306f\u306a\u304f\u2026\u300d),[65] he was shot at from behind with a homemade gun[a][1][70] resembling a sawn-off, double-barreled shotgun capable of firing six bullets?\\nat a time.[66][70][71] The first shot missed and prompted Abe to turn around,', \"Abe's wife Akie arrived at the hospital at 4:55 pm.[85] Despite doctors' efforts, Abe was pronounced dead at the hospital at 5:03 pm, around five and a half hours after being shot.[6][86][87]\"]}, {'Q': \"Which departments or organizations have been affected after Abe's death (3-5 can be listed)?\", 'A': \"Kishida's cabinet\u3001NHK General TV, four of Japan's five major commercial television networks Of the shows impacted, the anime series Teppen\u2014!!!, the National Police Agency\", 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': [\"Yamagata Prefecture, cancelled his remaining schedule and returned to Tokyo by 2:29 pm.[112][83] According to Chief Cabinet SecretaryHirokazu Matsuno, all other members of Kishida's cabinet were recalled to Tokyo except the foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, who was in Indonesia for the 2022 G20 Bali summit.[113] Kishida later ordered heightened security for high-ranking politicians in Japan.[114]\", \"2.NHK General TV, and four of Japan's five major commercial television networks, cancelled or postponed all scheduled programming to broadcast live news coverage for the rest of the day,as did several radio stations.[119][120][121][122]\", '3.Of the shows impacted, the anime series Teppen\u2014!!! had its second episode, scheduled to air on 9 July, cancelled entirely due to the plot of', '4.On 20 August 2022, the National Police Agency announced that rules for conducting VIP protection will be revamped, which will also expand VIP protection training.', '5.The NPA also announced that they will extend their \"cyber patrol\" force which was originally established to monitor online illegal drug trade and child pornography to also swiftly identify potential threats against VIPs found on social media and take early counter measures.[129]']}, {'Q': 'What are the main reasons why the United Church (UC) was condemned in 2022?', 'A': 'The main reason is that the activities of the United Church were accused of compulsory donation.', 'type': 'multiple_information_retrieval', 'S': ['Hiroshi Yamaguchi, an advocacy group representative, said that the UC\\'s \"explanation that\\nthere is no coercion of donations is a lie.\" The amount of damages reported by victims in Japan has been higher in recent years, the lawyers said, totalling 5.1 billion yen in more than 400 cases between 2017 and 2020. They emphasised that the activities of the UC are inseparable from front groups, including the UPF, they are all part of a \"religious conglomerate\" working', 'Because there were previous instances of students lured into the UC via the workers of \"CARP\" (for Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles), a UC-front organisation which\\nwas not acknowledged by the university, lingering around the campus, Osaka University erected warning signs in the campus to urge students to avoid cult-related groups like CARP.']}, {'Q': 'According to the new legal regulations, why is it necessary to regulate religious organizations?', 'A': 'The regulation of religious organizations is aimed at preventing violations and protecting the rights and freedoms of donors.', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': ['1.person must not induce the donor to borrow money or sell their home or fields in order to raise the funds for the donation, a juridical person must not accompany the donor to a place from which the donor is unable to leave, and a juridical person must not prevent the donor from consulting with someone.', \"2.The law also stipulates that the victim's family can also revoke the donation due to improper solicitation, and that the victim or his/her family can claim from the juridical person the amount of past damages as well as living expenses and child support that the child\\nor spouse is entitled to in the future.\", \"n 1992, each Japanese follower needed to successfully bring three more people into the?\\nchurch, fulfill certain quota of fundraising by selling the church's merchandise, undergo a 7-day long fasting, and pay an appreciation fee of 1.4 million yen. For Korean people, the fee for?\\nattending the mass wedding was 2 million won (about 200 thousand yen in September 2022)\"]}, {'Q': 'What is the total donation amount of Japanese believers of Unified Church from 1999 to 2011?', 'A': 'The total amount of donations made by the Japanese believers of the Unified Church from 1999 to 2011 was about 720 billion yen.', 'type': 'computation', 'S': [\"According to statistics compiled by the association's lawyers between 1987 and 2021, the association and local government consumer centers received 34,537 complaints alleging that UC had forced people to make unreasonably large donations or purchase large amounts of items, amounting to about 123.7 billion yen.[52]\", 'According to the internal data compiled by the UC which leaked to the media, the donation by the Japanese followers between 1999 and 2011 was about 60 billion yen annually.[53]']}, {'Q': 'Based on the information provided, why do some media mistakenly mistake video game developer Hideo Kojima for an assassin?', 'A': 'The media mistakenly identified Hideo Kojima as an assassin, stemming from the spread of online jokes as facts.\\n', 'type': 'comprehension_and_reasoning', 'S': ['A comedian admitted that he was responsible for spreading this conspiracy\\ntheory online. After receiving criticism, he published an apology video on YouTube.[277]\\nSeveral media outlets misidentified the video game developer Hideo Kojima as the assassin.[278][279][280] The misreporting allegedly stemmed from jokes on the online message board\\n4chan and Twitter that were taken as fact and subsequently published by the far-right French politician Damien Rieu [fr],[281][282] the Greek news outlet ANT1, and the Iranian website\\nMashregh News.', 'ANT1 additionally reported that the suspect was \"passionate about Che Guevara\"']}]", "output": "None"}