On Thursday, November 28th, at 6am, plainclothes cops from the Information Brigade of the Spanish National Police launched a large-scale operation against activists from various different collectives, under the orders of Cristina Cifuentes, a politician of the ruling right-wing Partido Popular (People’s Party), and current central government delegate in Madrid. The police claimed to have opened an investigation in relation to an antifascist direct action that took place on November 20th in the Complutense University of Madrid. As a result of this repressive blow, 19 individuals were arrested on November 28th, and another one on the 30th (still in custody); the investigation is currently underway, so there is always the threat of further persecutions.
On Thursday evening, the gathering in solidarity with the 19 arrestees outside the Moratalaz police station was attacked by cops, who carried out numerous ID checks and then unleashed crackdown on protesters for several hours, as a result of which 11 more people were detained, and released only the following morning.
During the evening of Friday, November 29th, the 19 arrestees of 28/11 were brought before the prosecutor in the Plaza de Castilla court, and were all released pending charges. A diverse crowd welcomed the prosecuted activists there, chanting solidarity slogans like “Freedom for those detained for fighting.” Another solidarity gathering was called for Sunday, December 1st, at 12pm in Tirso de Molina square in downtown Madrid.
The prosecuted have been charged with offenses against the exercise of fundamental rights and public liberties, with the aggravating factor of acting in hatred, causing injuries and damages. They are mainly accused of an antifascist direct action that took place on November 20th, date when fascists commemorate the anniversary of Franco’s death and the execution of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange (the “Spanish Phalanx” nationalist party). Just like every year, on the same day several antifascist collectives held a counter-demo in the Complutense University of Madrid, under the slogan “Fascists out of the University”. The protest march moved through the campus and ended in front of the Law School, where an attack was carried out against the offices of the fascist association Foro Universitario Francisco de Vitoria. Members of this fascist student organization, who showed up their faces, received proper welcome. Later on, the scum went straight to the cops to report the attack.
It is worth mentioning that, on November 4th in the School of History of the Complutense University of Madrid, a bunch of neo-Nazis of the Liga Joven (Youth League) broke into the university premises, tore off posters and confronted several students, in retaliation to the execution of two Golden Dawn thugs in Athens (November 1st, 2013).