Isabel Díaz Ayuso has responded to the protests for public education with new attacks against teachers and unions, while placing Pedro Sánchez behind the mobilizations. The president of the Community of Madrid made these statements this Monday, coinciding with the concentration of dozens of people in front of the capital building where she was attending an event.
The education strike continues with demands to improve the conditions of public education. Faced with the protests, Ayuso has questioned those who participate in them and their work in front of the classrooms: “The education of everyone's children is in the hands of people as violent as this who do not even respect the right of children to go to school.”
The Madrid president has linked the mobilizations with violence and has stated that those who protest are “greased by the unions,” according to statements collected by 'elDiario.es'. Her words come as teachers, families, and students maintain their demands for fewer students per class, reduction of teaching hours, salary improvements, and more resources for the education system. The call is supported by more than twenty organizations and collectives.
The concentration before the event Ayuso attended adds to the protest actions carried out during these strike days. According to Europa Press, the demonstrators gathered at the doors of the Palacio de Santoña with slogans in defense of public education.
Ayuso attributes the strikes to Sánchez
The regional president has transferred her accusations to the central government and has held Sánchez responsible for fomenting the protests “coercing governments.” “If Pedro Sánchez thinks that by harassing me and sending the unions to strikes while he goes around in love with Spain, he is going to intimidate us, he is wrong. Because we are in a democracy and in a democracy if you have to leave power you go home and you put up with it, Sánchez,” she declared to journalists.
With these words, Ayuso has presented the educational mobilization as an action promoted against her Executive and has connected it with the electoral dispute with the President of the Government, in the midst of the pre-campaign for the general elections on November 29.
The president questions the nature of the strike
Ayuso has also described the protest as political and has criticized the traffic cuts. According to statements collected by 'Europa Press', she has blamed the Government Delegation and Sánchez for the violence she attributes to the mobilizations and has demanded explanations about the police operation.
The president, for her part, has defended the agreements reached by her Executive with educational representatives. Her statements come as the organizers maintain the strike and demand changes in staffing, salaries, ratios, and resources for public education.
