Police unions such as JUPOL, SUP or CEP applauded this Tuesday the definitive eviction of the encampment that since the end of September occupied Puerta del Sol as a protest over the housing crisis, although they censored that the intervention order "comes late" and place it within a decision of a "political" nature.
"The eviction comes too late and, at this point, it seems to respond more to political interests and to the need to divert media attention than to a true will to act," stated JUPOL on its social networks.
The union has underscored that the National Police and Guardia Civil officers who shut themselves in a week ago in the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior for a "dignified retirement" were expelled in "barely a few hours" while in this case "they have taken more than a month". "Let each one draw their own conclusions," they concluded.
In similar terms, the Sindicato Unificado de Policía (SUP) has positively assessed the operation in Puerta del Sol, although it maintains that "38 days are too many" and that the situation could have been "resolved much earlier". In this way, they have stressed that when officers "are allowed to work, they act with professionalism, efficiency and proportionality".
"For weeks we have denounced assaults on police officers, threats and numerous security problems, while decisions from the political leaders were lacking," they told Europa Press from the union, which has congratulated the officers of this morning's operation and has assured that they have been "up to the task from the first day".
"Those who must give explanations are those who have allowed this situation to drag on for 38 days," concluded SEP, which understands that "the problem has never been the Police's capacity, but the lack of political decisions".
From the Confederación Española de Policía (CEP) they also value favorably that "normality is being restored in Puerta del Sol", an action they considered "necessary to recover security, coexistence and the normal use of an emblematic public space that should never have remained for so many weeks".
In this line, the union has recalled that it "warned from the very first moment of the risks" of the camp, and has emphasized that "the safety of the people of Madrid cannot be subordinated to political passivity." For this reason, they maintain that the "correct" decision has now been taken, which, however, "does not erase the responsibility for the delay" of those who had the powers, expressly pointing to the former government delegate Francisco Martín.
Martín submitted his official resignation now a week ago, with the eviction of Puerta del Sol as one of the pending issues that had generated him the most criticism in recent days. In the middle of the week it was learned that one of his last decisions as delegate was to urge the organizers to leave the square.
In the early hours of this Tuesday, an operation formed by 220 agents of the National Police and another 180 of the Madrid Municipal Police, together with personnel from the capital's Fire Department and social services, has evicted the 334 people who remained camped in Puerta del Sol. The operation has been carried out without relevant incidents, except for two arrested for disobedience and resistance to authority.