The Police frustrated an act of protest against the NATO summit inside the Prado Museum

Police control the demonstration against the NATO Summit held last Wednesday in the Plaza de Tirso de Molina, in Madrid. Fernando Sánchez (Europa Press)

Operation Eirene, the deployment of more than 10,000 police officers to guarantee the security of the NATO summit in Madrid, concluded this Thursday without arrests and with minimal incidents and all of minor importance.

The most relevant, unknown until now, occurred on June 23, five days before the arrival of the leaders of 40 countries in Spain, when 21 activists from the environmental group Extinction Rebellion ―the same one that starred on April 6 in a protest act in the Congress of Deputies with the throwing of red-tinted water―they tried to sneak into the Prado Museum as visitors to carry out an anti-militarist protest act with banners, police sources confirm to EL PAÍS.

The activists were intercepted by the Police when they were still in the access queues and,

According to these sources, the police intervention occurred after the security team of the museum - where a dinner was held this Thursday for the leaders participating in the summit and their companions - sent those responsible for Operation Eirene that same day his suspicion that an action against the summit was being prepared in the rooms of the art gallery after detecting that a person had acquired a large number of tickets, 40. The National Police then deployed a surveillance device in the surroundings that allowed, shortly after, intercept a score of Extinction Rebellion activists who, in small groups, were already waiting to access the interior.

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When they were searched, the agents intervened banners and masks with the images of several of the leaders attending the summit with which they allegedly intended to organize the protest.

After identifying them and removing their tickets so that they could not enter the museum, the police let them go.

This same group was involved in another incident last Tuesday, the day the summit began.

In this case, some thirty of its members were identified and proposed for sanction after painting graffiti on the façade of the Army War School in Madrid in an act in which they demanded the departure of the "warlords of Madrid", in reference to the NATO leaders attending the summit.

demonstrations without incident

Police sources on Thursday showed their satisfaction with the result of the security operation and the absence during the days of the summit of the radical groups that usually cause altercations during the celebration of this type of international event.

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, summed up the success of the operation with the phrase “zero incidents, zero detainees”.

These same sources admit that in the days prior to the start of the summit, the number of messages calling for disturbances to take advantage of the celebration had increased on social networks and instant messaging application chats frequented by radicals. protest demonstrations against the Atlantic Alliance.

“But they were always generic,

In fact, of the dozen demonstrations that have been held in Madrid in the days before and during the three days of the summit (some against NATO, others in support and the rest for reasons unrelated to it), in none Notable incidents have been recorded, according to sources from the Government Delegation.

In fact, the low participation has been the dominant note in all of them, with attendance that has been below the forecasts announced by the organizers when they announced their celebration.

Thus, on Friday the 24th, the concentration called by the CNT union in front of the headquarters of the Army General Headquarters was expected to be attended by fifty people, a figure that was not reached.

A day later, the call of the Union of Communist Youth did not bring together the 300 people planned by the organizers.

The same thing happened with the biker march held by Police Salarial Justice (Jusapol, a platform of police and civil guards that demanded higher salaries), which began by announcing 3,000 attendees and finally gathered just over 200. other acts convened by this police association.

In the concentration that most worried those responsible for security, one called by social networks that was held this Wednesday in the Madrid square of Tirso de Molina and that coincided in time with another similar one in the nearby neighborhood of Lavapiés, attendance was reduced to just under 150 people.

There were also no incidents.

In this case, the police - who carried out a visible deployment of agents from the Police Intervention Units, known as riot police - limited themselves to preventing some twenty attendees from moving to the Prado Museum, where it was being held at that time. moment the leaders' dinner, and to identify two people for carrying pyrotechnic devices.

The demonstration that brought together the most people was the one called by different left-wing platforms and which took place on Sunday, June 26, in the center of Madrid in a festive atmosphere.

It was attended by leaders of the United Left and the leader of the PCE, Enrique Santiago, currently Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda. The protest brought together some 30,000 people, according to the organization, and 2,200, according to estimates by the Government Delegation.

Police sources admit that they were alert in case the protest was instrumentalized by radical groups to cause incidents at the end of it ―those responsible for Operation Eirene deployed half a dozen police tanks in the Plaza de España, where the act ended―, but finally they were not recorded.

That same day there was another concentration, in this case in support of NATO, called by the Ukrainian community in Spain, in which half a thousand people were expected to participate, which was also held without incident.

This group held a second demonstration last Wednesday and tried to convene another two (one in front of the Royal Palace on Tuesday, and another in front of the Prado Museum the following day) that were finally not authorized because the request was submitted after the deadline.

The Government Delegation also prohibited a rally scheduled for this Wednesday afternoon in front of the art gallery, in this case against NATO, after receiving a police report that advised against holding it for "security" reasons, since the route and time coincided , precisely,