Manuela Bergerot has rejected this Friday that her words about the housing protests were a threat against Isabel Díaz Ayuso and has defended her intervention after the Madrid PP reported her to the National Police. "I don't regret it", she assured in an interview on Cuatro. The Más Madrid spokesperson maintains that she expressed the pain and indignation after the death of Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old neighbor evicted from her home in Retiro.
The leader has questioned that the popular party points to her as responsible for the mobilizations. "They must be very disoriented in the PP to believe that I am the problem and not what is happening in the streets", she affirmed on 'Las mañanas de RNE'. Her response comes in the midst of the 29N pre-campaign, with housing at the center of political confrontation and protests extending beyond Madrid.
The words that originated the complaint
The controversy began during Thursday's plenary session in the Madrid Assembly, a day after Maricarmen's death. Bergerot linked her death to the social unrest caused by evictions. "The day Maricarmen was evicted, something began to break. Today it has completely broken. Today in Spain there is no comfort for good people and in the streets of Madrid there will be no peace", she declared.
Ayuso responded by asking her if she was physically threatening the popular party members. Hours later, Alfonso Serrano, general secretary of the PP of Madrid, filed a complaint with the National Police to determine if these statements could have criminal relevance. The party maintains that they should be evaluated in a context of tension and intimidating messages against public representatives disseminated around the Sol encampment.
Bergerot explained this Friday that she was reflecting a feeling of "sadness and rage" and accused the PP of shifting attention from the housing crisis to her words. "The PP is scandalized by a phrase said in Parliament, but it is not scandalized because an 87-year-old woman has been evicted from her home", she said on Cuatro. On laSexta she insisted that the victim is Maricarmen and so are the families and workers who cannot access housing in Madrid.
The spokeswoman's response is based on a mobilization that precedes this controversy. Some 20,000 people, according to the Government Delegation, marched on Thursday from Sol to Maricarmen's former home, evicted on September 23 and deceased on October 7 at the Gregorio Marañón hospital. The tribute, called by the Tenants' Union, gathered demonstrators with flowers, photographs and candles to the portal of Alcalde Sainz de Baranda.
The Government delegate accuses the PP of trying to "distract"
In addition to denouncing Bergerot, Serrano has sent a letter to Francisco Martín, Government delegate in Madrid, to demand security guarantees during the election campaign. The popular party asks that its officials and sympathizers be able to hold events and address citizens without intimidation. They also reiterate their request to evict the Sol encampment.
The mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, reinforced this position on Friday by warning that Bergerot and Más Madrid will be "directly responsible" if episodes of violence against PP members occur. From the PSOE-M, Mar Espinar has rejected the popular party's interpretation and considered Bergerot's words a common phrase. "You can't have an iron fist and a glass jaw," she reproached them.
Martín has placed the complaint within the PP's electoral strategy and has accused the party of trying to avoid the debate on housing. "I think there are people trying to distract too much, distract with whatever it takes in this electoral moment," he declared after a Civil Guard event. Asked about the security request, he stated that the Delegation daily fulfills its functions in coordination with the State Security Forces and Corps.
The delegate has also defended the right of assembly of those who remain in Sol. The TSJM rejected on Wednesday the precautionary measures requested by the Community of Madrid to order the eviction, considering that the administrative inactivity attributed to the Delegation had not been proven. It was a precautionary decision, adopted before resolving the merits of the appeal.
