ARCHIVED - National Government intervenes and bans Women’s Day marches in Madrid
There have been many arguments recently about whether or not marches should be allowed to go ahead in Spain due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The national government delegation in Madrid (the highest authority of the national government in the Madrid region who is in control of the national police and Guardia Civíl in the region) has announced its decision to ban all the Women’s Day marches and rallies that had been planned in the Spanish capital city on Sunday 7 and Monday 8 March this year.
The national government has banned all large-scale rallies, but smaller events have been authorised in order to minimise the chance of spreading coronavirus; last year the Women’s Day marches became super spreader events and helped to spread coronavirus all over the country.
Having studied the details of the many proposed events including their routes, expected attendance, duration and locations, a government spokesman said that they would all be banned as there was too much chance of crowds coinciding in various areas of the city.
“The firm decision has been made to ban all the marches and rallies for public health reasons. Madrid is one of the Spanish regions with the highest rate of infections and hospitalisations, above the national average,” he said.