The Madrid City Council accuses the Government of boycotting the demonstration for Ceuta although it will be able to be held in Cibeles

The Madrid City Council has opened this Tuesday a new front with the central Government a few hours before the concentration in support of Ceuta scheduled for this Wednesday in the Plaza de Cibeles. José Luis Martínez-Almeida's team accuses the Executive of trying to "boycott" the call, while the Government Delegation maintains that the event can be held.

The clash stems from the procedure used by the City Council. The City Council communicated the concentration under the Organic Law regulating the Right of Assembly, but the Delegation considers that a public administration lacks the capacity to exercise that fundamental right in the same terms as a person or a private entity.

The document rejects processing the request through that channel, although its final part expressly allows the City Council to organize the call as an institutional act, within its powers and under its responsibility. The communication has also been sent to the State Security Forces and Corps so that they adopt the necessary measures and guarantee security.

The event remains announced for this Wednesday, September 2, at 8:00 p.m. in Cibeles. The presence of the mayor of Madrid, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and the leader of the far-right Vox, Santiago Abascal, is expected, as part of the mobilizations promoted by the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) in support of Ceuta.

Despite the content of the document, municipal sources have assured that the Delegation had prohibited the concentration. "Given this attempt by the Sánchez Government to boycott citizen demonstrations of support for the people of Ceuta, possible responses are being studied," they have reported from Cibeles. The word prohibition, however, does not fit with the express authorization to hold an institutional act included in the document itself.

The Government delegate in Madrid, Francisco Martín Aguirre, has responded harshly to the version disseminated by the City Council. "Lie. The Madrid City Council lies and the media that publishes it lies. Thanks to the media that confirm information before spreading the hoaxes that interest them so much," he wrote on X, denying the disinformation launched by the Madrid consistory, of the Popular Party.