Police keep apart parade crowds and a housing protest camp at Madrid's Puerta del Sol
On 12 October, the national holiday, police formed a cordon in central Madrid after people leaving the military parade reached a housing protest camp that has stood in the square for more than two weeks.
Parade crowds reach the camp
On 12 October, the national holiday, people leaving the military parade on the Paseo del Prado moved to the Puerta del Sol in central Madrid, where a housing protest camp has been set up for more than two weeks. According to La Razón, tension started shortly before noon, when groups waving Spanish flags and Burgundy crosses reached the camp. The Policía Nacional sent reinforcements, including vans, and set up a cordon between the two sides while officers worked to move the protesters away from the immediate area. eldiario.es reported that hundreds of people, most of them young, tried to get into the square, singing Francoist chants such as Cara al Sol and giving fascist salutes.
Chants and gestures on both sides
Shouts from the parade side included insults aimed at the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, racist slogans and the chants 'yo soy español' and 'prensa española, manipuladora', according to RTVE. Some people carried Francoist flags and some made fascist gestures. Campers answered with 'Aquí están los antifascistas' and 'Madrid será la tumba del fascismo', while La Razón reports the chant 'fascista el que no bote' from the same side. Campers formed a human chain to protect the tents. An older woman in that chain told RTVE's Mañaneros programme that the people on the other side were mostly ignorant and only knew how to demand that Sánchez leave.
- Parade attendees move from the Paseo del Prado toward the Puerta del Sol camp
- Tension begins between groups with Spanish flags and the housing camp
- Policía Nacional officers set up a cordon between the two groups
Objects thrown and criticism of the police
The campers denounced lighters thrown at them from the other side, and La Razón reports that several journalists were taken aback by objects in the crowd. Normal activity was returning to the square, with tourists still passing through, according to the same outlet. According to El Confidencial, the police deployment drew criticism on X from both ends of the political spectrum. Left-leaning users accused officers of being too lenient toward illegal Nazi symbols and of failing to detain people who came to disrupt the camp, while others directed their criticism at the Ministry of the Interior.
Political reaction and the camp's critics
LaSexta reports that in recent weeks Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, has called the campers lazy and has linked them to terrorism. In one remark she asked whether a group with terrorist and pro-Palestinian backgrounds was running the camp.
I want to know whether it is true that there is a group with terrorist, pro-Palestinian backgrounds running that camp.
LaSexta also reports that two days after the camp began, Ayuso claimed without data that it was hurting businesses in the area, a claim that LaSexta and local merchants denied. El Confidencial reports that left-leaning users blamed her rhetoric for mobilising the far-right groups.
What comes next
Lola Guzmán, leader of the 6F platform, told TVE that the Puerta del Sol lies on the Cañada Real and that sheep have to pass through the square during the Trashumancia festival on 25 October.
The sheep have to pass through here and they have to get out of the way.
The coverage points to 25 October as the next date tied to the square, although the articles do not describe any police plans beyond the cordon used on 12 October.
