The remark and the complaint

On Thursday, during the control session of the Madrid regional assembly, Más Madrid spokesperson Manuela Bergerot said that there would be no peace on the streets of Madrid after the death of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman whose eviction from her home in Retiro had fuelled protests over the housing crisis. Bergerot said that the day Maricarmen was evicted something began to break, and that it had now broken completely. Isabel Díaz Ayuso asked in reply whether Bergerot was threatening the PP physically. That afternoon, Alfonso Serrano, secretary general of the PP in Madrid, filed a complaint with the Policía Nacional against Bergerot for 'threats', so that authorities could determine whether her statements had criminal relevance. Serrano also wrote to the Government delegate, Francisco Martín, asking him to guarantee a campaign 'in freedom'.

Bergerot's defence

Bergerot rejected the charge on Friday in interviews with LaSexta and Cuatro. Asked by Antonio García Ferreras whether the phrase was a threat to the PP or to Ayuso, she replied:

“No, of course not.”

She said her words were a way of collecting 'the outcry in the streets', and that thousands of young people had made clear there would be no social peace until there is justice for housing. She refused to apologise, and said Ayuso should feel ashamed of standing 'on the side of the vulture funds instead of an evicted woman'. Bergerot also contrasted her remark with comments by Vito Quiles calling for the left to be annihilated, which she described as a real threat. She accused the PP of acting out of fear of speculators, and of a cynical response to the death of an evicted woman.

“They are cowards and are carrying out an unbearable act of cynicism.”

PP, Madrid government and mayor

Carlos Díaz-Pache, the PP spokesperson in the Assembly, said at a press conference after the Junta de Portavoces that Bergerot had crossed 'all the lines' and warned against presuming to be a democrat while using intimidation. He described the speech as the 'batasunización' of Más Madrid, and said Bergerot nodded and repeated that there would be no peace when he and Ayuso asked whether she meant physical and concrete threats. The regional government's spokesman, Miguel Ángel García Martín, accused Más Madrid of 'matonismo' in the Assembly and of an explicit threat against Ayuso. Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida said Más Madrid would be directly responsible if violence occurred against PP members, calling Thursday's exchange very serious. He also cited a report, read in the media, about radical and violent groups in the Puerta del Sol camp.

“Whoever does not want peace on the streets wants hatred, it is as simple as that.”

The PP has asked for the eviction of the protest camp in Puerta del Sol and for the Government delegate to guarantee the campaign in freedom.

Socialists and open questions

Mar Espinar, the PSOE spokesperson in the Assembly, said the PP wanted to 'divert the focus' and that Bergerot's remark was a turn of phrase rather than a threat. She accused Ayuso of showing 'once again a lack of humanity' by holding a minute of silence in the chamber for Maricarmen. Bergerot had said on Thursday that Ayuso did not allow a minute of silence, so the accounts of the session conflict. Espinar also asked Serrano to withdraw remarks he made about socialists. The articles do not say how the Policía Nacional will handle the complaint, or whether the Government delegate has replied to the letter.