The Superior Court of Madrid authorizes the protest against the amnesty in Ferraz, the day of reflection and 9-J

The group of people who gather in front of the parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on Ferraz Street in Madrid, next to the PSOE headquarters, to pray the rosary and shout against the amnesty law and the Socialist Party – will also be able to concentrate this coming weekend, despite the fact that Saturday is a day of reflection and Sunday is the day of the European elections. The authorization to do so comes from the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM), which has annulled the decision of the Provincial Electoral Board of Madrid not to authorize the citizen meeting because it coincides with two key electoral dates. The court has considered that there are no “founded reasons” why this concentration could change the direction of citizens’ votes.

The citizen group had requested authorization to gather every afternoon, between 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., from June 1 to 15, “without invading the roads of Ferraz and Marqués de Urquijo streets and without hindering access to buildings or the normal functioning of existing public establishments in the area.” The Electoral Board denied the concentrations of June 8 and 9 and did not rule on the rest of the dates. Then, the Madrid Government Delegation transmitted the resolution and authorized the concentration on the other days. Given the notification, one of the organizers of the rosary prayers filed a contentious-administrative appeal against the Board and the Government Delegation, and demanded that they be allowed to carry out the activity that has been called, practically without fail, since November.

The calls to pray the rosary are the remnants of the far-right demonstrations in Ferraz against the amnesty and the Government. In these activities, not only prayers are heard, but other types of messages. This is what this newspaper said in December, when it went to one of the group’s meetings: “Spain has won all its battles with the rosary in hand. The left is indoctrinating our young people and building society on the death of God that Nietzsche predicted,” said José Andrés Calderón, the leader of the prayer.

After studying the positions of both parties, the TSJM has ruled that denying this concentration on June 8 and 9 “violates the right of assembly.” The court considers that a day of reflection does not mean that no demonstration can be held. “We would reach the absurdity of admitting the prohibition of any meeting or demonstration for the simple fact that it is such and coincides with the day of reflection prior to an election or with the day of the elections,” says the ruling, which also highlights that there is no “no well-founded reason” to deny the call called Rosary for Spain and in defense of the Catholic faith throughout the world.

The court itself recognizes that this activity has been called continuously since November 12, 2023 and that, therefore, its call during this election weekend was not intentional. “The administration has not proven the existence of well-founded reasons that justify that the rally called on June 8 could affect or disturb in any way the political neutrality of the so-called day of reflection. Nor on June 9, voting day, since it has not been proven to what extent it may affect the constitution of the polling stations. […]”says the text of the ruling.

The government delegate in Madrid, Francisco Martín, has warned that with this ruling “the TSJM has decided to endorse a politically motivated concentration, on the day of reflection and on the day of voting for the European Elections, against the criteria of the Provincial Electoral Board.”

While the prayer of the rosary in Ferraz has managed to remain on full electoral dates, the non-authorization of the Madrid cyclonudista by the Electoral Board still stands. This is what the cycling collective Pedalibre, one of the organizers of a demonstration that takes place annually to demand improvements in sustainable mobility in Madrid, has expressed through Cycling organizations go out to protest in this particular caravan to literally make visible the nakedness and fragility of cyclists in the middle of vehicular traffic in the absence of segregated and safe infrastructure. On May 31, the Provincial Electoral Board of Madrid sent a statement denying authorization for the cycle walker, under the argument that the same day of reflection was being called.

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