The Tribunal Superior de Justicia (TSJ) has given its final approval for the move, from its present site, of Callosa’s Cross of the Fallen, but have told the municipal authorities that the courts must be notified of when the move will take place.

At Tuesday’s hearing the court refused to block the removal of the cross from the Plaza de España, at the request of the protest group, the Civic Platform in Defense of the Cross.

However, in view of a further appeal, the TSJCV has said that if the move is carried out before 31 January, the day on which the next hearing will take place, they must have prior notification which will then enable the court to stop the intervention should they wish to do so.

Following meetings with Valencia’s director of Culture and Heritage, Carmen Amoraga, the mayor, Fran Maciá, is expected to authorise the move sometime this week. “It has gone on for far too long,” he said, “and I now intend to comply with the motion approved in the plenary of March 2016 and with the provisions of the Law of Historical Memory.”