The Secretary General of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has criticized the actions of the security forces during the protest held in Madrid to try to stop the "illegal" eviction of Maricarmen, an 87-year-old neighbor, and has denounced a disproportionate police intervention and "brutal violence" against the people gathered.
At the same time, she has urged the Government to recover through decree the prohibition of evicting people in vulnerable situations and to keep it in force even if it does not gain the necessary support in Congress, renewing it month by month if necessary.
"I don't know what the government of Pedro Sánchez is doing, but it is exactly the opposite of what was expected of them when people voted for them on July 23, 2023. I don't understand that police deployment, it has been brutal violence against the activists and the activists, against Mari Carmen herself," she stated in the hallways of Congress.
Belarra speaks of political "murder" and criticizes the operation
Belarra has assured that she attended the concentration with a "broken heart" after participating in the mobilization against the eviction of Maricarmen and has gone so far as to qualify the throwing of a person of such advanced age as "murder," considering that her health has deteriorated as a result of what happened.
The leader of Podemos has reiterated that the police response was "totally disproportionate" during the operation deployed at the concentration in support of Maricarmen, where, according to her account, up to three rows of agents were formed.
Irene Montero demands explanations for the police deployment
The protest was also attended by the MEP and former Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, who had moments of tension with several agents while demanding the presence of the person responsible for the operation.
In recordings circulated on social media, one of the agents is seen approaching her to warn her to stop "stirring up" the people gathered and to help maintain calm. Montero responds by reminding that she is an MEP and that she is verifying on the ground what she considers a disproportionate use of force by the police during the mobilization.
Belarra, for her part, has questioned why "police violence is used against activists who are defending the Constitution," referring to the article that guarantees the right to housing, and has reiterated that the eviction of Maricarmen is "illegal" according to the criteria established by the United Nations.
They demand the Government recover the anti-eviction decree
In this context, the leader of Podemos has urged the Executive to reactivate the anti-eviction decree and to apply an immediate reduction in rental prices, regardless of whether it has sufficient parliamentary support or not, insisting that the Government can renew it month by month until the next elections if necessary.
When asked about the statements of the Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, the Podemos deputy has demanded that PSOE and PP stop "throwing the balls at each other," because, she said, the citizens are "tired" of this exchange of reproaches.
In that line, she pointed out that the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has "priorities like buying a 6 million penthouse instead of protecting people," but emphasized that "it is no less true" that the central Government has tools to protect elderly people at risk of eviction and that, in her opinion, it is adopting a "terribly hypocritical" stance by not using them.