matthewbennett on Nostr: Spain Notes, Dec 23: aggresive Vox bullying in Madrid City Council. The conservative ...

Spain Notes, Dec 23: aggresive Vox bullying in Madrid City Council. The conservative Mayor calls on Ortega Smith (Vox) to resign

1/ There was a(nother) physical scuffle in a Madrid City Council…it was VOX.

2/ The first video to appear of the incident showed scuffles and outrage on the Mas Madrid side of the chamber after Vox leader Ortega Smith moved in that direction after making some remarks on the rostrum.

3/ Another angle of the incident, which appeared later, showed there had indeed been a brief physical altercation, with Ortega Smith clearly making an aggressive gesture towards Mas Madrid councilllor Eduardo Rubiño.

4/ The affected councillor, Eduardo Rubiño, said Ortega Smith had thrown a water bottle towards him in an “aggressive, intimidatory manner”. “He was very close to coming into physical contact with me”, Rubiño said.

5/ Mas Madrid group leader Rita Maestre said “There was just a physical assault by Mr. Ortega Smith on Mr. Rubiño … right in front of you all”. She questioned whether that was how council meetings work: “You have the right to assault people when they say things you don’t agree with..?”

6/ The Mayor, Almeida (PP) demanded Ortega Smith resign: “unacceptable”.

7/ The Vox leader in the city tweeted out “not a chance, coup leaders”.

8/ “Vox has been doing politics like this for a long time”, Rubiño told a radio programme: “we’re talking about a party that just a few days ago wanted to hang the Prime Minister by his feet […] with the support of far-right groups with swastikas chanting “homo, homo, homo” through the streets. How are we now surprised by this?”

9/ “[Ortega Smith] turned round and said ‘now go and cry’…why does he say ‘now go and cry’”, he added: “and he said that to me, maybe he wouldn’t have said it to another person, a person he thinks is perhaps less of a man than he is, and it reminds me of the phrase that bullies in school use with homos in class”.

10/ Ortega Smith again refused to resign: “I hope he recovers from his grave injuries”, he quipped.

11/ Fans of both sides jumped in on social media in support of their man.

12/ “Dick boy says Ortega Smith nearly came into physical contact with him”, tweetd Ndongo, for example, on the Vox side, with some laughing emojis.

13/ “Rubiño, you’re not much of a man”, tweeted Irene González, a columnist in Vozpópuli.

14/ “My full support for you, Rubiño, and my strong condemnation of Ortega Smith”, tweeted PSOE chairwoman Cristina Narbona: “that behaviour is not acceptable from an elected representative of the people”.