Police on Monday prevented social media activists Vito Quiles and Bertrand Ndongo, whose accreditation as journalists is suspended, from accessing Congress, despite being invited by Vox to speak in the Chamber in a debate focused on freedom of expression.
Days earlier, the Congress Board had already informed the parliamentary group of Vox that both are sanctioned for "altercations" in Congress and that they have more disciplinary files yet to be resolved, which is why they would not be allowed to enter the Chamber's facilities "for security reasons."
Quiles, linked to Estado de Alarma (EDATV), and Ndongo, who works for Periodista Digital, have had their press credentials revoked for violating Congress's internal rules. However, on Monday they attempted to attend Vox's conference as guests and not as accredited reporters.
Taxi ride after police ban
Both showed up around Congress intending to access the building, but the agents in charge of the venue's security informed them that they had express instructions to prevent them from entering the parliamentary complex, citing security reasons.
After talking for a few minutes with Vox representatives and other conference attendees, the two activists opted to get into a taxi and leave the area without being able to participate in person in the event.
At the opening of the meeting, Vox's national deputy secretary for Communication, deputy Manuel Mariscal, described the ban as "an unprecedented boycott" and called it "complete arbitrariness" attributed to the president of Congress, the socialist Francina Armengol.
Remote participation and "flamethrower" controversy
Despite the access ban, Vox allowed the two sanctioned activists to participate remotely. Both joined by videoconference and their appearance was met with applause and shouts of "Freedom, freedom" among attendees.
Vito Quiles, who was a candidate on 'Alvise Pérez's European list and participated in a PP of Aragon campaign closing event, stated he was the victim of "strong harassment," while Ndongo offered to give Vox a "flamethrower" to burn RTVE, echoing controversial words by Manuel Mariscal against the public broadcaster.
Abascal accuses Armengol of "censorship"
The president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, spoke at the closing of the conferences to, amidst shouts of "president", thank the contributions of all the speakers and regret not having heard Quiles and Ndongo in person because "the chief inspector of Congress, whose name is Armengol", has "censored" them.
"But that is not strange in Congress," denounced Abascal, who reproached Armengol for applying censorship to deputies, especially from Vox, who dare to denounce "the scam and the lie" of the Government or to attack its president, Pedro Sánchez.
"I have called Sánchez a traitor, corrupt, and indecent, and it has been censored in the Official Record, but Sánchez has used those same words and they have not been removed," Abascal stated as an example, accusing the President of Parliament of maintaining a "double standard" which, he said, goes to the extreme of even suppressing "irony" when he was called to order in a debate for calling Sánchez "Your Majesty".
For the leader of Vox, the left in Spain enjoys freedom of expression "that they do not allow others" and this situation, he stressed, not only affects journalists and public officials, but also writers, poets, or singers.
"Without a voice, we are dead while alive"
Abascal warned that Vox does not intend to remain silent "under any circumstances" and assured that they will continue to describe Sánchez and his circle as a "mafia in capital letters". "Mafias need to impose the law of silence, and they have surrendered so that no one in Spain dares to report their crimes," he stated.
The Vox leader claimed that his party, which has shown itself to be "rebellious" against that supposed law of silence, was the first to point out that "mafia" by "land, sea, and air", by presenting two no-confidence motions, supporting street mobilizations, and an "incessant" judicial offensive against Sánchez and the "mafia" that, in his opinion, surrounds him. "Without a voice, we are dead while alive, and we are not willing to die while alive," he concluded.