"They don't represent us, no, no, no!". "They call it democracy and it is not". On a day like today 15 years ago, these slogans enlivened the march of 100,000 protesters towards the Puerta del Sol. In parallel, in other parts of Spain, and in perfect coordination, thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the political class and market elites.
The economic crisis was at its peak, the government of José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero was in its final throes, and the square from which Spaniards bid farewell to the year every December 31st became the epicenter of change. The 15M Movement was underway, and Spanish politics would never be the same.
For 28 days, the Puerta del Sol square was occupied. The socialist government did not dare to evict them, and the image went around the world. The so-called "indignant movement" attacked PP and PSOE equally, and criticized the privatizations promoted by the EU in response to the 2008 financial crisis.
It was the breeding ground for "new politics," the end of bipartisanship, and the birth of a new way of communicating, as journalist Carmela Ríos documented in her work *How #15M Changed Information*.
Tension in the Cortes
In mid-June 2011, the protest was dispersed, and the Puerta del Sol returned to its constant hustle and bustle. But although the physical encampments ended, the movement continued to be active through neighborhood assemblies and "tides" in defense of public services threatened by the cuts first by Zapatero and then by Mariano Rajoy. For months, massive demonstrations were held in hundreds of cities and towns.
That spirit of protest was behind one of the most tense episodes of the wave of indignation that shook Spanish society: the "Surround Congress" action. Also known as 25-S, it was a demonstration called for September 25, 2012, with the intention of surrounding the vicinity of the Lower House.
During that autumn afternoon, Carrera de San Jerónimo and Plaza de Neptuno were gridlocked. Attendees overwhelmed the two security cordons, there were 34 arrests and 64 injured, 27 of them police officers, and the images of the charges sparked an avalanche of solidarity with the organizers and strong political reactions.
The then Government Delegate, Cristina Cifuentes, went so far as to describe the call as a "Coup d'état". But she was not the only one who evoked the figure of Antonio Tejero during 23F to refer to this episode.
The then socialist spokesperson for Health in Congress, José Martínez Olmos, wrote on his Twitter account (now X): "'Camping inside Congress as Tejero did (on 23-F in 1981) or outside, as is now intended for 25-S, has the same purpose: to hijack sovereignty".
For his part, Eduardo Madina, in 2012 secretary general of the socialist parliamentary group, considered that the police charges at Congress were "clearly excessive" and considered that the Government "is losing control of the country".
A month earlier, the President of Congress Jesús Posada (PP) had expressed his confidence that the Ministry of the Interior would adopt "the appropriate measures" to ensure the inviolability of Parliament in the face of "street riots". It was clear that the security device was overwhelmed.
macro trial:
Last June, thirteen years after the "Rodea el Congreso" protests of 2012, the Court of Madrid issued a sentence for the 21 defendants. The Public Prosecutor's Office had requested a total of 112 years in prison, but all sentences were significantly reduced due to the delay in the proceedings.
During the trial, the defense denounced police irregularities and a lack of investigation into alleged abuses during the arrests, in a context in which the European Court of Human Rights had already condemned Spain for not adequately investigating complaints of police violence related to that protest.
Assault the heavens
Two years later, part of the spirit and aspirations of 15M were taken up and channeled by Podemos. At the head of the purple formation were some of the most popular faces of the "indignant movement": Pablo Iglesias, Carolina Bescansa, Juan Carlos Monedero...
In an unprecedented event, Podemos burst onto the electoral scene with five MEPs in the 2014 European Parliament elections. Using Iglesias' iconic ponytail as their campaign image, the party that proclaimed the end of the caste managed to reach the institutions. "The sky is not taken by consensus, it is taken by assault," declared the purple leader in the midst of celebrating the results.
In the 2016 general elections, the "new politics" would be consecrated. Podemos narrowly missed the "sorpaso" (overtaking) of the PSOE, and Ciudadanos burst onto the center-right of the political landscape, also campaigning against bipartisanship. For the first time in history, parliamentary fragmentation forced a repeat election, and a possible left-wing coalition government was explored, which would eventually materialize in 2019.
Separate Paths
15 years after the Sol encampment, the political space to the left of the PSOE, which, with the permission of Izquierda Unida, was reborn after 15M, has fractured on multiple occasions. Along the way, two coalition governments, two Deputy Prime Ministers, and nine ministers linked, first to Podemos and then to Sumar.
Internal division within the purple formation first led to the secession of Más Madrid and Más País, and then to the birth of Sumar, led by Yolanda Díaz. Podemos, which once secured 71 deputies, now has residual representation in the Lower House. Five deputies are integrated into the Mixed Group, after running in the elections with Sumar but deciding not to form part of the same parliamentary group.
The lack of unanimity in this ideological space is evident with each new election call. Not to mention, in the Andalusian elections next Sunday, May 17, Adelante Andalucía and Por Andalucía are running in different candidacies.