The Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) has expressed this Wednesday its "condemnation and deep concern" over the police charges against a picket line during the mobilizations in defense of public education. The rectorate has clarified that it did not request the intervention of the agents and has demanded attention for the injured and guarantees for those detained. The Government delegate in Madrid, Francisco Martín, has asked the chief of the National Police for an urgent investigation to clarify the action.
"Some very harsh images have been produced that I believe hurt us all," Martín said in statements to 'Mediodía en RNE'. The delegate has demanded an investigation into what happened and the adoption of immediate pertinent measures. He insisted that the police response must be proportionate and warned that, apparently, the images disseminated do not correspond to that principle.
The intervention has resulted in five people arrested and six demonstrators injured, according to the balance reported by union sources. The arrests have been confirmed by the Police, who have also reported injured agents. Testimonies from participants in the picket line describe blows and indiscriminate action, while the police version attributes the start of the incidents to attempts to breach the cordon and assaults on agents.
"There were people on the ground, the police stepping on their heads"
The charges occurred early in the morning next to the Faculty of Chemical Sciences, in Ciudad Universitaria. Paloma Elvira, CGT delegate at the Complutense, told 'El Salto' that "within minutes they started charging indiscriminately". In the same medium, Alba Lirón, a predoctoral researcher at the UCM, described the intervention with another testimony about the blows. "There were people on the ground, the police stepping on their heads," she stated. The newspaper reports transfers to the Moncloa Hospital of demonstrators with head and arm injuries.
The rectorate has stressed that "it has not requested or promoted the presence or intervention of the National Police on campus". It has also taken steps to ascertain the situation of those affected and has asked for proceedings to be expedited to facilitate the prompt release of those detained, with respect for their rights and legal guarantees. The university has expressed its solidarity with the injured and has defended that demands can be freely expressed during strike days.
Martín explained that the officers responded after receiving reports of street blockades and hooded individuals. According to the version he provided, some demonstrators attempted to breach the police cordon and assaults against the officers occurred. The delegate maintains the request to investigate the proportionality of the response, even while acknowledging that explanation of the operation. The National Police depends on the Ministry of Interior.
The university day coincides with the start of the indefinite strike by teachers and students of Madrid's public education system. At the Complutense, the UCM x la Pública platform had called for a strike this Wednesday against lack of funding and for the right to housing. The educational mobilizations demand more resources, better working conditions, and sufficient attention for students, in a conflict that extends from schools and institutes to public universities.
The left demands accountability
Podemos has described the charges as shameful. The MEP and political secretary of the party, Irene Montero, has denounced the "repression" against those mobilizing for public education in a video circulated on social media. She has also directed her criticism against the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, whom she accuses of ignoring the demands of teachers and deteriorating public education.
Qué vergüenza las cargas policiales y detenciones de Ayuso contra estudiantes y profesores. pic.twitter.com/PUVZDfk4xP
— Irene Montero (@IreneMontero) October 14, 2026
The United Left deputy and Sumar's Interior spokesperson in Congress, Enrique Santiago, has deemed the intervention "unjustified and unacceptable". He has demanded that Francisco Martín go beyond the request for an investigation and proceed to "immediately dismiss the police commander responsible for this brutal action."
The spokesperson for Más Madrid in the City Council, Rita Maestre, has also condemned the charges and questioned their proportionality. Maestre has demanded that the Police be withdrawn from university campuses and has linked the mobilization to the lack of resources in higher education. In her statements, she accused the Community of Madrid of "suffocating public universities."
