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The regional government had previously refused to introduce mobility restrictions for the entire city. Madrid is currently the epicenter of the corona pandemic in Europe.
The Ministry of the Interior sent about 7,000 representatives of the Civil Guard to the arteries of Madrid, the airport and train stations this Friday to prevent a massive exodus of Madrid.
At noon on Friday, all of Madrid held their breath. At that moment the ultimatum that the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, had given to the Community of Madrid ended. In view of the increased number of corona infections in Europe, it will decide on new and comprehensive mobility restrictions for the 6.6 million residents of the capital and the surrounding region, or declare a new state of alarm.
Sánchez won the match. The conservative regional government had already believed itself to be the winner: on Thursday, the Madrid Regional Superior Court lifted a partial closure of the capital region, which had previously been ordered by the central government’s Ministry of Health. The judges found that the mandatory cordon off of the capital restricted the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution. Also on Friday morning, regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso did not promise tougher measures than the closure of the Madrid districts especially affected, which had been in force until then.
It is important to protect the health of Madrilenians, Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Friday after an emergency cabinet meeting. It is important that the high number of infected in Madrid does not spread to the entire country, Illa said, justifying the end of freedom of movement for residents of the capital. Madrid registered an average of more than 2,000 new infections per day during the past week, that is, more than a quarter of all new infections in the country.
On Friday, the Interior Ministry sent 7,000 representatives of the Civil Guard to the arteries of Madrid, the airport and the train stations to prevent a massive exodus of Madrilenians. Many residents of the capital had planned to leave Madrid during the weekend, since Monday is a national holiday and there is no work.
Healthcare workers are fed up with political battles
The chaotic management of the crisis in recent days, the enactment of new regulations and the subsequent judicial veto have disturbed and tired the people of Madrid. Many feel victims of a political trench warfare. It is becoming increasingly clear that behind the setbacks between the central and regional governments there is above all a calculation of political power. Regional President Ayuso has already suffered from her lax crisis management in recent months. Thus, the Socialists see an opportunity, sooner or later, to oust the Conservatives from power in their traditional stronghold with a vote of no confidence.
If it was only about the health of citizens, the central government could have taken action earlier. In the second half of September, Madrid registered an even greater number of infections than now, but at that time Sánchez had categorically ruled out a new state of alarm. Health experts are also outraged that measures to combat the pandemic are based primarily on political criteria. In a manifesto released last weekend and signed by 170,000 medical professionals and healthcare workers, politicians were accused of simply legislating without experience.
The state of alert that the central government has now declared can last a maximum of 15 days, and Sánchez needed the approval of the opposition for an extension. It is already clear that the conservative Popular Party, unlike the last – then national – state of alarm in March, will not help the Socialists. Opposition leader Pablo Casado described the new mandatory closure of Madrid as a political attack on the regional government. The far-right Vox, the third largest party in Spain, has already called for a “car for freedom demonstration” in Madrid on Monday.
