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MADRID: The Spanish government faced a backlash on Monday (October 26) over its plans to put the country, one of Europe’s worst COVID-19 hotspots, under a state of emergency for six months.
Opposition parties said it was too long, epidemiologists said the measure might be too little too late, and some citizens resisted night curfews.
“The curfew doesn’t make much sense. Does the virus only infect people between 11:00 PM and 6:00 AM? No,” said Marta Aragoneses, a 36-year-old teacher, enjoying a cigarette outside a cafe in the historic Madrid neighborhood of La Latina.
Nearby, Mariano Moreno de Guerra, a pharmacist on his way to work, said what he was concerned about was the length of the state of emergency and the powers it gave authorities.
“They are getting a taste for confining people and that could be dangerous. Extending it for six months is utter outrage. I see a lot of potential for abuse.”
The country’s total number of cases soared by more than 50,000 over the weekend to reach 1,098,320 as of Monday, while the death toll stands at 35,031.
Disagreements between the minority central government, regional authorities and the opposition have hampered the response to the pandemic in Spain for months, and the curfew and state of emergency came after many political disputes.
This, in turn, has infuriated many Spaniards, and analysts say the uncertainty could eventually affect the willingness to comply with the measures.
NATIONAL CURFEW
“The measures in Spain are reactive, they drag our feet, with the feeling that it is not evaluated if they work and that something is done only because others took those measures,” said political scientist Pablo Simón.
The government said on Sunday it would seek approval from parliament for the state of emergency, which provides the legal framework for taking action and gives each region the right to decide its own policy, for a duration of six months.
Meanwhile, the nationwide curfew will last until at least November 9.
People are not allowed to move between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless it is for specific reasons, such as work or medical trips. This applies to all of Spain, except the Canary Islands. Regions can start curfew an hour earlier or delay it until midnight.
The state of emergency also allows the regions to prohibit free transit within and outside their territory, and the northern regions of Aragon and Asturias became the first to do so on Monday.
Both the main opposition party, the conservative Popular Party (PP), and the center-right Ciudadanos, said on Monday they would support a state of emergency, but not for six months.
The leader of the PP, Pablo Casado, said that his party would accept up to eight weeks, but no more, and with conditions that include legislative changes to allow limits on the movement of people to be decided without resorting to the state of emergency.
Spain cracked down on the first wave of the pandemic from around March through June, including a shutdown that forced people to stay home for the day.
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