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The Madrid city council has become the Spanish Congress of Deputies. A full council meeting had been called to express its disapproval of Javier Ortega Smith, councillor for far-right Vox, after he attacked Eduardo Rubiño, representative for left-wing Más Madrid, two weeks ago. But the true protagonists of most of the addresses ended up being issues that go well beyond the city limits of the Spanish capital: the Catalan amnesty, 'Sanchismo', the Socialist (PSOE) agreements with the pro-independence parties, the Pedro Sánchez effigy, the now-extinct terrorist group ETA, the mayor of Pamplona, Hamas and even Catalonia's long-expired Pact of Tinell. At some points it seemed as if the plenary session of the Madrid city council was taking place a few hundred metres away on the Carrera de San Jerónimo. In relation to the rebuke of Oretga Smith, which was what brought the Madrid councillors together today in the old Telecommunications Palace, there were no surprises and the Vox politician was duly admonished with the votes of the People's Party (PP), Más Madrid and the PSOE.

Ortega Smith fires back in all directions

In his speech, with a haughty and defiant tone, Ortega Smith directed criticism at all sides. He took a few seconds to mention the city of Pamplona, alleging that this special session in Madrid was a "smokescreen" to try to cover up "the infamy of what happened in Pamplona" (where the PSOE and Basque independentist party Bildu presented a motion of no-confidence so that the latter could recover the mayoralty from the rightist parties). Addressing the Más Madrid bench, which he constantly refered to as "Hamas Madrid", he showed not a shred of regret for his actions (in fact, in a subsequent press conference he responded to the council's vote, the second time it has censured him, by saying he didn't give "a damn"), with his excuse being that Eduardo Rubiño had "verbally attacked" the victims of terrorism before the Vox politician's aggressive response, a swiping action with his folder, sent a bottle of Coca-Cola flying at the left-wing councillor. In fact, Ortega Smith claimed that the only actual physical contact that took place was from the Más Madrid spokesperson, Rita Maestre, who tried to keep him away from Rubiño after the attack.

In his speech, Ortega Smith also emulated Federico Trillo, former Spanish defence minister and speaker of Congress, when he said that "As a PP minister would say, 'Este pleno manda huevos'" ("This session is a load of bollocks") and he mentioned Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao, one of the fathers of Galician nationalism, to criticize that PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo had paid tribute to him when he was president of Galicia. Furthermore, Ortega Smith complained that the PP and PSOE had appointed "an international mediator as if Spain were a colony" to renew the country's judicial governance body, alluding to the agreement between the PP and Socialists for the European Commission to intervene in the negotiations, he denounced that the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, "has completely bought the left's narrative" and reproached Reyes Maroto, PSOE spokesperson, that the Socialists' "criminal and coup history" only allows it to "give lessons in crime."

After his speech, the Vox politician also announced that he was going to leave the council session and not listen to the rest of the responses (PP, Más Madrid and PSOE had two speakers each) because they had not given him a turn to respond. Afterwards, he told the media that he felt it "profoundly" that the PP had joined in with "this theatre, vaudeville and farce", but he acknowledged that the autonomous community pacts made in several parts of Spain between Vox and the PP were not in danger.

"Aggression is Vox's method"

From the lectern, Eduardo Rubiño, the Más Madrid councillor who was attacked, criticized Ortega Smith for being "very brave in verbal abuse, to insult and approach his seat to hit him", but not to stay and listen to what he had to say, and he asserted that in Spain "there is a majority that does not want its representatives to drag down the dignity of democratic institutions and expect them not to behave with such a lack of self-control like a kind of rude teenager." He suggested to the Vox councillors that "they have to learn to behave" and claimed that people had voted for Más Madrid "to infuriate" those people who "believed that they could impose a suffocating, oppressive and dark Spain on anyone who thought, spoke or loved differently."

Along the same lines, the spokesperson for Más Madrid, Rita Maestre, maintained that she did not believe that Ortega Smith represented "a rarity" or "a rotten apple" within Vox, but rather that his reaction showed that "aggression is not an anomaly", and was "Vox's method." She described Ortega Smith's behaviour as "the classic attitude of any thug", claimed that "the force of democracy is stronger than thugs and their attacks" and urged the PP to "reflect" on Ortega Smith's behavior. However, she lamented that "unfortunately, this is where democratic unity begins and ends", aware of the alliances between the PP and the extreme right party throughout the Spanish state.

For her part, the PSOE spokesperson, Reyes Maroto, asserted that "violence and hate speech are a sign of Vox's identity", and she reproached mayor Almeida for not condemning the effigy with Pedro Sánchez's face which was symbolically beaten on New Year's Eve in front of the PSOE headquarters. She also criticized calling the council session during the Christmas holidays so that it "goes unnoticed". It is the "Christmas gift" that the PP has given to Vox, she said.

The PP drops in the amnesty and even the Pact of Tinell

"Confront with all democratic weapons the frontal attack against the rule of law that the [Spanish] government is perpetrating." That was one of the phrases uttered by the deputy mayor of Madrid, María Inmaculada Sanz (PP), who used her speech to briefly refer to Ortega Smith as well as to extensively criticize the PSOE, Más Madrid, Sumar and the independence movement. She argued that, after Spain's Democratic Transition and the approval of the 1978 Constitution, "everything began to go wrong when the Socialist Party signed the infamous Pact of Tinell with the independentist and nationalist forces." That was the 2003 agreement between the Catalan Socialists (PSC), the Republican Left (ERC) and the red-green ICV-EUiA to form the first left-wing "Tripartite" government in Catalonia, ending 23 years of governments from the centre-right Catalan nationalists CiU. "The 'Sanchista' block that is held together by the wall is a version of the cordon sanitaire of the Pact of Tinell," she denounced.

Regarding Ortega Smith's aggression, she criticized that his "little numbers" are "the best alibi" for the Spanish government, since they are "very useful for the 'Sanchismo' strategy", giving it "arguments and excuses to divert attention" . She concluded her speech with a jab at the PSOE and Más Madrid: "Reprobation of Ortega Smith's attitude? Yes. Denouncement of the infinite hypocrisy of the left-wing bench? That too."

Finally, the People's Party mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, stated that Ortega Smith had to be condemned without any doubt for his unacceptable, intimidating and violent conduct" and acknowledged that he himself witnessed "the seriousness and violence" of his behaviour. However, he added that, given the speeches made in the plenary session, he had come to the conclusion that "Ortega Smith doesn't want to leave his seat as a councillor, and nor does the left want him to," and he reproached Más Madrid and the PSOE that the existence of Vox is "phenomenal" for them to "cover up their pacts of shame." "You brought hatred and confrontation to Spanish politics," he proclaimed, addressing Rita Maestre.

"Javier, friend, Spain is with you"

Meanwhile, since before the plenary session had started, around fifty people, who had reponded to Vox's call, were gathered in front of the Madrid city hall to show their support for Ortega Smith. Some of the slogans were "Javier, friend, Spain is with you" and "Brave Javier, Spain defends you." Likewise, the protesters voiced chanted against the PSOE and the PP: "PSOE and PP are the same shit".