The spokesperson for Más Madrid in the Assembly, Manuela Bergerot, has described the arrest of Podemos leader Serigne Mbaye as “arbitrary, violent, and racist,” has criticized the Government Delegation for coming to his defense and has demanded “public apologies” for the treatment received.
“The Minister of the Interior cannot look the other way and has to take measures immediately. And before those who, like the government delegate, want to justify this, I want to be very clear. Racist stops and detentions have no type of justification. Never and in no case,” Bergerot launched at the press conference after this Friday's Board of Spokespersons.
The arrest occurred this Thursday, when the National Police arrested the Podemos leader and former regional deputy in the Usera district, along with six other people, after a scuffle with agents of the force. From the Delegation they have indicated to Europa Press that it was a “citizen request” and they have defended the police action.
Bergerot, on the contrary, has maintained that the police are “to collaborate with the citizenry, not to harass them for their skin color” and has demanded that measures be promoted to “prevent something like this from happening again in the streets of Madrid”.
For her part, the spokesperson for the PSOE, Mar Espinar, has stressed that from the Delegation an investigation has been opened to clarify what happened and has expressed her wish that “everything be clarified as quickly as possible”.
The spokesperson for the PP, Carlos Díaz-Pache, has described as “very serious” the accusation by Más Madrid against the National Police and has reminded that the fact that a person holds a position in a political party “is not exempt from complying with the law and obeying the agents of authority”.
“I believe that it is an action that has resulted in five minor injuries on the part of the police. Therefore, if someone tries to impede police work, tries to flee from the action of the police officers, then of course they have to assume the consequences,” he stressed.
Finally, the Vox spokesperson, Isabel Pérez Moñino, has indicated that it does not “surprise” her that Mbaye “confronts the Police and causes disturbances” because “he belongs to Podemos, a radical party that has always protected and promoted these attacks against the Police.”