The Frente Amplio candidate for Madrid, Emilio Delgado, has demanded that the head of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, dismiss the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, after the police charges recorded during the general strike of November 11 for housing.
"It doesn't make much sense to appeal to the minister anymore. The longer the PSOE keeps Marlaska, the more transfer of responsibility is made to the head of the Government," he said in an interview on the "Cadena Ser," collected by Europa Press.
According to Delgado, even the PSOE voter "feels uncomfortable" because "it's not even the first time, not the second, not the third" that forceful police interventions take place against mobilizations of a progressive nature. "The far-right cut off the Gran Vía three years ago and the police escorted them," the party leader recalled, who has censured the use of pepper spray against protesters in the housing protest.
The Frente Amplio challenger reproached that "you can't extend a hand to citizens when they mobilize for their rights" and, at the same time, order "wild police charges" like those, in his view, were experienced during the general strike.
QUESTIONING THE RIOT POLICE
Delgado warned that basic rights such as those to assembly and to expression "are being violated" and directly pointed to the riot police as the focus of the problem. "In this country the Police are highly valued; I think there are many people who appreciate the protection and the work of the police in everyday life, but there is a specific problem with the police unions and with the riot police," he emphasized.
For the Más Madrid leader, "it's not normal that there be concentrations of neonazis and that the police are seen talking calmly with them," while also denouncing that the same police unit used gas in the housing protest in Madrid "on a homeless person who was on the Gran Vía."
"This is unacceptable," Delgado stressed, who reiterated the need to assume "political responsibilities" to "guarantee fundamental rights in Spain" and called for "a thorough review of the police model." He also highlighted the historic character of the general strike for housing, noting that many avenues in large cities were left "gridlocked" by the influx of protesters.