Ayuso wields a hoax about a police tribute to challenge the Government again

The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, in a meeting held this Thursday with representatives of the pharmaceutical industry. COMMUNITY OF MADRID (Europa Press)

The Community of Madrid has made official this Thursday the offer to organize "the joint tribute to the police and civil guards who participated in the end of the terrorist group ETA".

That invitation had been announced the day before by the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, in response to the controversy that arose after the newspaper

ensure that the Ministry of the Interior had vetoed the celebration of an act of these characteristics last April.

The announcement is made on the same day that the promoter of the initiative, the Professional Police Union (SPP, majority in the command scale of the National Police) has denied, through Twitter, that the suspension of said act had been caused by the department of Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

Despite this, sources from the Ministry of Justice and the Interior of Madrid have indicated that they maintain their proposal, "as long as the Interior does not deny the information", and that, in fact, they have already contacted the police unions and associations to meet the week that come and talk about the organization.

The president of the SPP, Adolfo Medina, has assured EL PAÍS that the reason for desisting from the celebration of the tribute was not any ministerial "boycott", as indicated in the statement made public by the Government of Díaz Ayuso, but the lack of some formal requirements necessary for the Royal Family to participate in it, in addition to the impossibility of King Felipe VI attending it due to scheduling problems.

On Twitter, the SPP pointed out this Thursday that "some information published in this regard does not fully conform to reality", referring to the news of the last three days now used by the Madrid executive to make his proposal.

The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijoo, was more cautious on Wednesday when asked about this tribute in the Senate: he criticized the Interior,

The controversy began last Monday, when

published that the Interior had stopped what was going to be the first act of joint tribute by the National Police and the Civil Guard for their contribution to the end of ETA.

The information assured that the House of the King had shown its intention to participate, but that Grande-Marlaska had not given its approval to the act.

However, the statements to EL PAÍS by the leader of the union that promoted the initiative, the data provided by other organizations that supported the act and the documentation deny this version.

Medina assures that the idea of ​​"a tribute from civil society to the victims of the Security Forces of ETA terrorism" arose in July of last year and that, from that moment, his union began efforts to organize it.

The first step, he adds, was to find a place to celebrate it.

To do this, the union contacted those responsible for the Wizink Center, a large venue in the center of Madrid where sporting events and massive concerts are held.

The president of the SPP assures that there was "hole" to use this space on April 25.

The next step that the union took, at the end of the year, was to send a letter to the head of the King's House, Jaime Alfonsín, to propose the participation of Felipe VI.

“It would be an honor if His Majesty the King presided over said event,

In its response, the institution asked the organizers to first seek the support of the rest of the police unions and Civil Guard associations to study the proposal, something that the SPP did by sending letters dated March 9.

In the letters, the union of commands indicated that, in the "managements already carried out, both the Ministry of the Interior and the General Directorate of the Police, in conversations with the highest officials, have shown us their willingness to collaborate in said act".

Interior sources clarify that there was never a formal request by the union, an extreme confirmed by the president of the SPP.

Medina admits that, then, the only thing that had occurred was a comment during an act between the former head of his union and the director general of the Police,

After receiving the support of the rest of the organizations, the SPP received a new written communication from the Casa del Rey.

In it, the presence of Felipe VI in the act was ruled out due to a problem with the agenda.

“They also told us, verbally, that the mandatory official written communication to the Ministry of the Interior was missing from the petition, which we did not know was necessary,” details the union leader.

It was already the first week of April, and the SPP therefore decided not to proceed.

"He did not give us time and we gave up," says Medina, who emphasizes that at no time was there a veto by the Interior to the act.

Other organizations that supported the tribute also agree that they were never aware of any ministerial boycott.

the guest list

The Professional Police Union (SPP) hoped that the act of homage to the security forces that fought against ETA would include, in addition to the King, the participation of numerous personalities from politics and other areas of society.

According to the list that it sent to the rest of the police organizations to ask for their support, the union wanted to invite "high-ranking public institutions, as well as representatives of civil society."

The relationship included the current Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and his predecessors, as well as the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and those who preceded him in office.

The head of Defense, Margarita Robles, was also going to be invited;

to the current heads of the National Police and the Civil Guard, Francisco Pardo and María Gámez,

In addition, they wanted to have representatives of the CEOE and the Basque employers' association, Confebask;

of the University of the Basque Country, of the Episcopal Conference and of the different associations of victims of terrorism.

And they were going to invite the members of the Council of State, senior Interior officials and representatives of the political parties, as well as the so-called fathers of the Constitution who are still alive.

The French ambassador, Jean Michel Casa;

members of the judiciary and the prosecution, representatives of the Ertzaintza, the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Navarre Foral Police and the local police also appeared on the list.

This was completed with representatives of various foundations of the Police and the Civil Guard, as well as associations of retirees from both bodies and press associations.

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