Deputy mayor Inma Sanz asks central delegate Francisco Martín to lift the camp, which the council says has been illegal since it began on 26 September.
The regional cabinet met at Canal de Isabel II on 21 October, and spokesman Miguel Ángel García Martín called the move occasional and linked to works at the Real Casa de Correos.
Eldiario.es reports the justification moved from security on Tuesday, 20 October, to works, the same reason given for the 6.3 million euro Chamberí penthouse purchase.
PP candidate Jon Echeverría called the camp absolutely illegal on LaSexta ahead of the general elections on 29 November.
The Madrid city council has answered a letter from the central government's delegate in the region, Francisco Martín, asking for the location of hydrants around Puerta del Sol. Martín made the request citing the difficulty of verifying those points visually. The council's reply, obtained by Europa Press, sends him a map of the dry columns firefighters use and of the hydrants in the area. It also tells him the situation is not one of exceptionality, as he describes it, but of illegality, and it demands that he lift the camp and "cumpla la ley" (comply with the law).
“the situation is not one of exceptionality but of illegality in which Puerta del Sol and its surroundings find themselves”
Inma Sanz, the deputy mayor and councillor for security and emergencies, said she had signed a formal requirement on 29 September ordering the delegate to comply with the law, and that two more letters followed. She calls the encampment an illegal gathering because it was never notified, something she says the state administration itself has acknowledged. In her view, the delegation's early inaction has allowed other gatherings and demonstrations without prior notice to spring up in the area.
The council's letter lists a set of hazards at the site: overcrowding, tents anchored to the ground, plastic sheets tied to street furniture, piles of cardboard and waste, and occupation of the approaches to some of the busiest public transport access points in the capital. It says knives, cobblestones and sticks have been found in the area, and that intimidation of citizens and journalists has increased. The letter also points to drug and alcohol use and to insults and threats against regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida. Sanz argues that disorder does not require violence to threaten public safety.
Wednesday's meeting of the regional Consejo de Gobierno was held at the Canal de Isabel II offices rather than the Real Casa de Correos on Puerta del Sol. Regional spokesman Miguel Ángel García Martín called the move "ocasional" and tied it to ongoing works at the Real Casa de Correos, including interior courtyards, a roof replacement, improved access from the alley and work continuing on the second floor. Eldiario.es reports that the explanation has shifted: on Tuesday, 20 October, sources close to Ayuso cited security, while the government now describes an alternative space for when the building does not meet the necessary conditions. The works argument is the same one given months ago to justify the purchase of a 6.3 million euro penthouse in Chamberí. Sources close to Ayuso say her office will remain in Sol and be used when needed.
“It is intolerable that the delegate tries to unload all his incapacity onto the police by opening investigations”
García Martín accused Martín of political tacticism that stops the police from doing their job, and he demanded the delegate's resignation. He said the delegate was following the voice of his master, an allusion to the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. A meeting between Ayuso and Argentine president Javier Milei was scheduled for 17:00 on Wednesday behind closed doors, without press access. Eldiario.es notes it was on Milei's agenda but not on Ayuso's institutional one, and the regional government would not confirm the venue.
Más Madrid asked whether Ayuso was looking for another penthouse, arguing the Chamberí purchase remains unexplained. The People's Party is making opposition to the Sol encampment a central theme of its campaign ahead of the general elections on 29 November. On LaSexta's Más Vale Tarde on Tuesday, 20 October, PP candidate for Gipuzkoa Jon Echeverría described the camp as illegal and called it a foothold of unhealthy conditions that should be cleared as soon as possible.
“the encampment is absolutely illegal and is a usurpation of a public space”
Echeverría also accused the protesters of promoting crime and murder, citing chants he said called for killing the wealthy and for killing Ayuso and Almeida. Articles in the set also refer to police charges at a protest targeting Ayuso at the Palacio de Santoña, which the regional government raised in its criticism of the delegation.
The council wants the encampment lifted and the regional government wants it cleared and the violent minority detained. None of the sources reports a reply from the delegation to the council's latest letter, so the next step remains open.
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Madrid's city council demanded that the central government's delegate lift the Puerta del Sol encampment, while Ayuso's regional cabinet met at the Canal de Isabel II offices on Wednesday, 21 October.
AI text based on reports by eldiario.es, La Razón, europa press and other publishers. Published .