Madrid asks government to clear Sol camp over possible radical groups

The letter to the Government delegate

Carlos Novillo Piris, the regional councillor for environment, agriculture and the interior, sent a letter on Saturday to Francisco Martín, the government delegate in Madrid, according to Europa Press, which had access to it. In the letter he asks for the encampment to be lifted, citing safety for the authorities and staff of the regional presidency and a possible need to evacuate the square. The letter says the regional government has learned, through public reports and communications, of the possible presence of people linked to organizations that other countries and international bodies have called terrorist. It also warns that the tents could hinder the evacuation of buildings on the square and of the Sol metro and Cercanías station, whose surroundings are described as 'surrounded by obstacles'.

The letter stresses the need for police attention to any extremist presence.

The possible presence of people or groups linked to extremist or radical organizations requires, in our view, special attention from the State Security Forces and Corps.

Ayuso's accusations

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the regional president, raised the same concern earlier on Saturday at the first pre-campaign rally of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, held at Ifema in Madrid. There she asked the Government delegation to confirm 'whether it is true that a group with pro-Palestinian terrorist antecedents is running the camp'. She also said the United States and Canada had formally included in their terrorist organization lists the people currently at Puerta del Sol. Speaking to the PP audience, Ayuso rejected the idea of order at the camp.

There is no rule of law there. There is disorder and chaos, and one day we will be able to find out why it is being provoked.

Life inside the camp

The encampment began on Saturday 26 September, with a majority of members of the Sindicato de Inquilinas at the start, according to 20 minutos. El País describes almost 1,800 tents, 62 small squares and 56 streets spread over 12,000 square metres, organized into committees for urban planning, construction, culture, mediation, communication, cleaning and care. The protest is tied to the housing crisis and to the eviction of Maricarmen, an 87-year-old woman who died days after being removed from her Retiro home, where she had lived for seven decades. The Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid (TSJ de Madrid) has upheld the camp, rejecting a request from the regional government and the city council that the Government delegation order its removal.

Police monitoring and tension

The Policía Nacional is monitoring radical-profile groups around the camp, according to 20 minutos, which reports police sources saying the most concerning moment was Saturday 3 October. That day members of Núcleo Nacional, an extreme-right group, appeared near Sol, and police detained three of its sympathisers after a clash with members of the Coordinadora Juvenil Socialista (CJS), who had called to 'defend' the camp. Police sources say the leadership in Sol has shifted from the initial organizers toward the CJS, whose profile they describe as more radical. The Friday 2 October march to the Congress, during a vote on housing decrees rejected by PP, Vox and Junts, preceded a call for elections on 29 November, according to the same outlet.

Government order and police complaints

La Razón reported on 9 October that the Government had ordered police not to intervene in encampments in several Spanish cities, arguing that it is 'en funciones' (caretaker). According to the paper, officers and commanders were 'more than surprised', since no such instruction had been issued in democracy under that premise. The police union Jupol said several government delegations and sub-delegations have stopped providing the data police need to plan deployments, which it considers especially worrying in Madrid. Jupol asked for normal communication procedures to be restored and for the causes of the gaps to be explained.