The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has demanded that the newly appointed Government Delegation "immediately order" the camping set up in Puerta del Sol to be removed "simply to prevent another sexual assault from occurring."
"I admit it, if I were the deputy government delegate, regardless of whom the Government appoints, I would order that to be removed immediately because there has been a sexual assault, which the left does not want to talk about," the mayor has stated.
In an appearance before the media, Almeida responded to the spokesperson of the PSOE in the City Council, Reyes Maroto, after she defined the Sol camping as "peaceful." "If she has no fear, let her spend a night in a tent in Sol and see if she has any feeling, subjective or objective, of insecurity," he posed to her.
"And let her ask the woman who has been a victim of that sexual assault, let Reyes Maroto ask if this is peaceful. Or let her go see the one who was stabbed in this illegal camping," he continued in his challenge to the socialist leader.
The mayor has insisted that the goal is "to prevent another sexual assault from occurring, and no one can rule it out being realistic and seeing who is inside there." In his opinion, "I believe it is the most urgent and important thing, to guarantee the safety and integrity of women."
Alert due to precedents in Barcelona, France, and Italy
Almeida has warned that "this is known when it starts but not when it ends." "And let’s hope it doesn’t end like it has in France, or like it has in Italy, or like it has in Barcelona. When illegal and violent situations are encouraged, because one does not think they are violent situations but they are happening, it is known how it starts, but what is not known is where it ends," he has reiterated.
The mayor has expressed his "deep concern because no one likes to see the images of a city like Barcelona, or the cities of France and Italy completely devastated. Not taking these circumstances seriously is to facilitate that they can be repeated," he has warned.
He also rejected the statements of the general secretary of the Madrid socialists, Óscar López, who frames the disturbances as a boost for the right and the far right. According to Almeida, "what this does is break social peace. The important thing is not who gives encouragement. The important thing is not who can gain electoral profit, in Óscar López's opinion. If Óscar López thought about the citizens, what should really matter to him is that this breaks social peace and introduces unprecedented violence in the streets of the cities, like what happened in Barcelona," he defended.
For the mayor, "this is not a question of giving wings to anyone, this is a question of cutting the wings of violence. And that is where Óscar López should be, not in partisan, sectarian, short-term analyses" because "what is happening in Europe is serious enough, what happened in Barcelona, to focus solely on who gives wings. What needs to be done is to immediately cut the wings of violence." "And that means not allowing sexual assaults or stabbings to happen again in Sol, as there have been in recent weeks," he emphasized.
Origin of the protest and change of profile in the camp
Almeida has questioned the current meaning of the concentration in Sol. "Even assuming that the camp originated from the protest for housing, can anyone really claim that this camp right now is for housing? That camp has completely mutated, it is not what it was originally, which for me should also have been lifted," he indicated, recalling that "there were people who defended that they were peaceful and protesting for housing."
In his opinion, at this moment "it is a refuge for homeless people, for people with a criminal profile, it is a refuge for people who obviously commit acts like that of sexual assault and it is not a refuge for those who demand housing." "I do not remember anything special about housing in that camp in recent weeks," he added.
Impact on commerce and criticism of "goodism"
From the City Council, he explained, they are aware that "there are shops that are being set up and that there is a strong debate apparently among the campers that are still there because there is a minority that still says they want to hold on," although the City Council does not have precise data on "who that minority is, what their profile is, or the demands that justify staying in the Sol camp perpetuating a situation of illegality."
Almeida has rejected the continued definition of the concentration as peaceful. "And let's not call it peaceful anymore because when there is a woman who has been a victim of a sexual assault it seems offensive to me to say that this is a peaceful camp. It was coming, just like the stabbing," he reiterated.
Regarding the partial removal of tents, the mayor has asked not to be deceived by gestures of apparent moderation. He warned that one should not believe that "they are being good now." "Let's not fall into the naivety because it harms businesses just as much whether there are thirty, twenty, or ten." "If you are so good that you don't want to harm commerce, leave but let everyone leave, don't let a few stay," he demanded.
The mayor maintains that the campers "couldn't care less about commerce." "That's why I don't want them to do an exercise of naivety now, nor that they are cool with commerce because commerce has lost enough money for this to continue being so and we continue working with the sector to see the solutions," he assured, after pointing out that the losses of these businesses are estimated at around 30% at this moment, just before the start of the Christmas campaign.