Friday afternoon had not yet fallen and about 200 people were already flanking the doors of the Garibaldi tavernin the Madrid neighborhood of Lavapiés. Waiting for the arrival of the former minister and Podemos MEP, Irene Monterowho presented his book we will have done somethinggroups, activists and social organizations settled on Ave María Street in the capital to defend the act before the call for boycott by Desokupa leader, Daniel Estevewho this Wednesday harangued sabotage and assured that he would attend with “200 little friends.”
Although nothing was known about Esteve despite the fact that some of his followers wanted to be seen in the tavern area. After an hour of waiting, around 7:00 p.m., Montero appeared with the general secretary of the party, Ione Belarra, while half a thousand people chanted his name and shouted proclamations. Next to them, a strong device from the National Police and the Municipal Police deployed on the main street and surrounding areas prevented a group of five people from getting into the crowd. “They will not pass”, People shouted at the doors of the premises while applauding the former minister.
The agents and some of those gathered also Some well-known faces related to Desokupa and Vox were kicked out of the arealike Bertrand Ndongo, while the majority of attendees at the almost improvised demonstration wondered who were the ones making a fuss. “We have seen a huge guy who was with four or five, but we don’t know who he is,” some retirees said about the controversial Cameroonian activist.
“This is what we have to continue doing: popular response. We must kick out that bunch of neo-nazisto those squad members who are making a business out of hatred and the persecution of the poor and most vulnerable people. I hope the Government of Spain takes note and responds exemplarily,” stated Montero upon his arrival at the event. “It is intolerable that in a democracy in the European Union there are right now bands of neo-Nazis who are the militarized arm of political fascismwho make a business of hatred and persecution. These gangs like Desokupa should be outlawed and punished,” he added.
“We want to live in peace”
But the purple politician was not the only one to send a message to Esteve and his organization. “This city deserves this forceful response to the undesirables and the fascists. We have to be here to defend honesty, principles, courage... I have said before that we will have done something but, above all, we still have to do a lot to defend freedom and dignity,” he said with a wink to the MEP’s book. Boti Garciageneral director of Sexual Diversity and LGTBI Rights of the Ministry of Equality between 2020 and 2023 and activist for LGTBIQ+ rights. “Dani Esteve is moved by the fact that he is pure trash. Madrid is anti-fascist and they have not come because they will not pass,” he added.
Among the half a thousand people there were more well-known faces of Podemos, such as Pablo Iglesias or Miguel Urbán, co-founder of the party, as well as more unknown members such as Serigne Mbaye, secretary of anti-racism and resident of Lavapiés. “I had planned to come, others did not know that this presentation was taking place, but when they saw Dani Esteve’s video they said they had to come. We want to live in peace, we want to live in peaceDani Esteve can’t come and bother a neighbor. People are free to present their book or do what they want as long as they do not harm anyone,” he said accompanied by two friends. “We cannot allow fascism to descend into the neighborhood to break our coexistence,” he added.
“Get rid of the squatters”, “you fascists are the terrorists”, “not here” or “long live the struggle of the working class”, were some of the proclamations that the members of the young area of Podemos, from the Left, began to launch. Revolutionary, Free and Combative and the Student Union. “Evidently we share spaces with Podemos, but we took the step of being here today because it is a matter of defending something democratic. We must defend ourselves from these fascists, from Desokupa which is a criminal organization who does business at the expense of having a company of thugs who evict poor families. They believe they have the impunity to say that they are going to come and that they are going to blow everyone up,” explained Coral Latorre, general secretary of the Students’ Union.
But not everything was simply political. Curious people and citizens in their personal capacity said they came to support Montero. “Esteve is a fascist and proves to be a very poor person making these types of appeals,” said Francisca, Julia and Carmen. “He can speak like that because he is in a democracy. He is always threatening. In the end he didn’t come because he saw that he couldn’t get anything out of here and he backed out. Threat by system and this is not a way to live together,” they stated. “This man has gone from a commercial sphere to a political sphere of a Nazi nature and we must defend ourselves against him,” Eduardo assured. “Then they are quite cowards,” he added about the call failed.
Finally, after 7:30 p.m., with the tavern packed for the presentation and dozens of people at the doors, the concentration began to disperse. On Wednesday Podemos already made a call to support its number two. Then, Belarra said that they were not going to intimidate them and that the “fascists” would have to be stopped. Something that has finally been accomplished. Esteve had not achieved his objective, although he had given more publicity to the MEP’s book. “Irene, sister, here is your pack”the attendees shouted.
#Dani #Desokupas #boycott #Irene #Montero #fails #ends #antifascist #demonstration #Garibaldi #pass
