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Vox rallies: crowded and without a safe distance in the middle of the fourth wave

2021-04-14T04:52:59.321Z


Monastery says that attendance at pre-election events is voluntary and that the situation is worse in the Metro


The leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, and his candidate for the Community of Madrid, Rocío Monasterio, in a pre-campaign event in San Lorenzo de El Escoral on the 10th Rafael Bastante / Europa Press

The motto of the pre-electoral campaign of Vox before the appointment with the polls on May 4 is

Protect Madrid

.

It is, in the words of its leader, Santiago Abascal, to "protect Madrid from the communist assault on the institutions."

More debatable is whether Vox is protecting Madrilenians from the pandemic or exposing them to greater risk.

Since last day 7 it launched its pre-campaign in Vallecas, in an act that ended with police charges and the launching of objects by violent groups from the ultra-left, Vox has held a fortnight of rallies.

In total, several thousand people have attended, who in general have not respected the mandatory distancing to avoid infections.

To give legal coverage to its electoral acts, Vox communicates to the Government Delegation the celebration of concentrations, to which it gives the green light, after consulting the electoral board, on condition that certain preventive measures are fulfilled;

above all, the use of masks at all times and the need to keep a distance of 1.5 meters between the participants.

The first requirement is being met, but the second is not.

The authorized rallies for a few dozen people are turning into massive rallies with crowded public squares whose capacity is overflowing.

In Getafe, Vox brought together about 600 people and similar figures have been given in towns such as San Fernando de Henares or Pozuelo de Alarcón.

Even those that were presented as informational tables in towns in the Madrid mountains (such as Guadarrama or San Lorenzo de El Escorial) ended up becoming rallies for Abascal with megaphone in hand.

It is not only during speeches that crowds occur.

At the end, people gather around the leader to greet him or take a selfie with him.

The mobilization that Vox is achieving in this pre-campaign is unparalleled in any other party: every day it celebrates two events with the candidate for the Community of Madrid, Rocío Monasterio, and Abascal himself, who closes the list.

Some days are completed by a third act with his secretary general, Javier Ortega-Smith;

or the number two of the group in Congress, Macarena Olona.

Faced with the idea that the campaigns are now focused on televisions or social networks, Vox is running a traditional campaign, kicking towns and neighborhoods.

"We are not going to leave a subway in Madrid without stepping on because all the streets and all the neighborhoods are also ours", proclaimed Abascal.

Vox act this Tuesday in the central Plaza de Daoiz y Velarde in Madrid.

EFE / Javier LópezJavier López / EFE

The problem is that Madrid is in a situation of "extreme risk" in the midst of the fourth wave of the pandemic.

With 338 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the region surpasses the Spanish average by 70% (199) and is at the forefront in the rate of infections together with Ceuta, Melilla, Navarra and the Basque Country.

Its current rate is almost 50% higher than the one in the community on March 8 (236), when feminist marches on Women's Day were banned.

Monastery admits that its rallies are “full” of public, but alleges that the capital's subway is also full at rush hour and no one has considered suspending it.

"People go [to Vox events] voluntarily and know what they are going to find," he declared this Tuesday to EsRadio.

Sources of the Government Delegation in Madrid assure that the police make reports of pre-electoral acts and send them to the General Directorate of Public Health of the Community of Madrid, which is the one that should open a sanctioning file in case of non-compliance with anti-crime measures .

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Vox's attitude in the pre-campaign events is consistent with its proposals on the pandemic: Monastery considers it “urgent to eliminate curfews” and demands the “immediate opening of soccer stadiums, bullrings and open-air shows”;

while Abascal asks "to end all kinds of confinement and perimeter closure."

For the ultra leader, the restrictive measures are part of "a totalitarian experiment to which some want to condemn us taking advantage of the pandemic";

despite the fact that they have been adopted by conservative European and regional governments of the PP.

Vox proposes the opening of all businesses, because "all jobs are essential", and the free movement of citizens throughout Spain.

This plan is accompanied by an intensification of the vaccination campaign and, while it is producing its effects, by carrying out massive tests.

But even immunization is viewed with some suspicion in the ultra party.

"We believe in freedom, that people choose whether to get vaccinated or not," Monasterio responds when asked if they recommend getting vaccinated.

And, at the insistence of the journalist, he adds: “I think you have to get vaccinated, if the vaccine meets all the conditions.

I'll be the last [to do it], but I'm going to get vaccinated ”.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-04-14

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