Ultra-right groups clash with housing camp at Madrid's Puerta del Sol

A tense National Day in Sol

On 12 October, Spain's National Day, ultra-right groups who had watched the military parade moved toward the Puerta del Sol, where a housing protest camp has stood since 26 September. The crowd was mostly very young, and some people covered their faces with balaclavas. Many carried Spanish flags, while others carried flags with the Burgundy cross, pre-constitutional symbols, and Falange and Carlist emblems, some of them unconstitutional. Morning crowds were much larger on both sides, and by the afternoon the numbers had fallen, though the two groups kept facing each other in the streets around the square while riot police pushed them apart.

Arrests and an injured officer

Police detained a young woman in El Carmen street shortly before 18:00, after several runs and thrown bottles. Outlets reported two or three arrests over the afternoon. El País and ABC cited police sources for three detainees, a man, a woman and a minor, while El Confidencial and eldiario.es reported two. ABC's police sources said a woman was arrested for striking one of the officers who had come to prevent incidents, and El País reported that one of those involved punched a police officer, who was injured. The three detainees face charges of attacking a public authority, and El País reported that the number of detainees could rise until the deployment ends. ABC also reported that eggs were thrown at the campers, and some hit officers trying to stop the clashes.

The camp and its defence

El País estimates that more than 2,000 people sleep in the square each night, a figure that grew rapidly from the first tents put up on 26 September, and the organisers have begun turning away new arrivals. Campers formed human chains around the tents and called for 'peaceful resistance' on social media. A coordinator told EFE that the camp had received a threat that Núcleo Nacional would appear at Sol at 8pm, and the camp's official Instagram account asked more people to come to the square 'to resist', always 'in a non-violent way'. Campers chanted 'Here are the antifascists', while the ultra groups chanted 'the police defends the reds', 'being Spanish is not a crime' and 'arriba España'. ABC reported slogans against Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, including 'rojo el que no bote', and said some individuals made a fascist salute with the arm raised.

Transport closures and the evening

Cercanías announced the closure of Sol station in the early afternoon to avoid further incidents, and several streets leading to the square from Callao, including Montera and Preciados, were also cut off, according to ABC. Security sources told EFE that all Metro and Cercanías accesses at Puerta del Sol were closed at police request for a time and reopened early in the evening. After 19:30 police reinforced their positions and advanced them to push people trying to enter Sol back toward Callao. Around 20:00 police cleared about one hundred far-right protesters from Preciados, and El País reported that pedestrians not involved in the protest were redirected to parallel streets for more than an hour.