Two days before the long-awaited NATO summit in Madrid, more than 2,000 people, according to the Government Delegation, have demonstrated this Sunday at twelve noon against the meeting of the Atlantic Alliance with a march that has started in Atocha and has descended by Gran Vía to Plaza de España.
The meeting was attended by several groups that participated on June 24 and 25 in the counter-summit, among which were the parties of the United Left and the PCE, headed by its general secretary, Enrique Santiago. The also Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda and, therefore, number two of Ione Belarra, has participated in the background in the march, not at the head, and has not made any statements.
On behalf of the members of the Government coalition, the IU deputy, Roser Maestro, the former deputy Miguel Ángel Bustamente and the MEP Manu Pineda have also attended. The former MEP Willy Meyer has also led the march. Although United We Can has been against NATO from the outset, no senior official or minister has attended the meeting.
Nor has the Minister of Consumption and federal coordinator of the United Left, Alberto Garzón, participated, who when asked last Thursday in the corridors of Congress about his attendance at the march, replied that “yet” he was not clear. Nor Ione Belarra, who encouraged citizens to demonstrate against the increase in defense spending that the Executive was preparing.
Even so, a large part of the IU federal leadership, such as the federal spokeswoman, Sira Rego, have participated in the march together with various officials of the party’s federations throughout the country.
Shouting “NATO no”, “Nazis out” or “Madrid out, warlords”, the demonstrators have advanced along the route from Paseo del Prado to the end of Plaza España with banners and republican flags and communists, where the counter-summit has ended with the reading of a manifesto.
For the rest, the march has advanced peacefully and without incident and has been backed by the National Police and by a helicopter that has been flying over the area.
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