Anti-Ayuso teachers prepare masks for a protest in Madrid on the same day as Blocus

A group of striking teachers has distributed masks of Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Mercedes Zarzalejo dressed up as dead for a costume protest on October 31, the same date the Blocus network had set for a demonstration in Madrid. Blocus's call was declared cancelled on TikTok, but with no identified spokespeople to guarantee it.

The education strike in the Madrid region (Comunidad de Madrid) is now in its third week and the protest repertoire has changed register. A group of teachers has circulated on WhatsApp bloody masks of the regional president, **Isabel Díaz Ayuso**, and the education minister, **Mercedes Zarzalejo**, to wear in costume on **October 31**, Halloween night. The accompanying poster is titled "The terrifying Halloween of Madrid's public administration" and encourages people to dress up as one or the other "in solidarity with our teachers." It closes with a warning: "No matter how hard you try, you won't be scarier than them."

## Two masks, two sizes and a clown with fangs

The masks come in two formats: one for adults measuring **19 by 28 centimetres** and a children's version of **17 by 25**. The file includes instructions for printing, cutting out the edges and eyes and piercing the sides. Ayuso's is depicted with a clown face, cracked skin, trails of blood and fangs. Zarzalejo's shows empty black eye sockets and bleeding cuts on the cheeks and mouth.

Joining the campaign is a party called by the teachers' assembly of the **IES Villa de Vallecas**, a state secondary school, together with the collectives Nuestra Clase and ContraCorriente. It takes place on **Friday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m.** at Casa Marx, a venue that describes itself as a socialist cultural centre, in Madrid's Vallecas neighbourhood. The poster shows Ayuso and Zarzalejo dressed as witches and tells attendees: "Bring your Ayuso or Zarzalejo costume!" Proceeds will go to the school's strike fund and that of Menos Lectivas.

## The date coincides with Blocus's call

**October 31** is not a date chosen at random. It is the one **Blocus**, the network that incited the riots and looting in Barcelona, had set for a demonstration in central Madrid. Anonymous profiles of this network circulated calls for Puerta del Sol and Plaza de España. Some posters presented the gathering as a protest in defence of public education, alongside messages inciting violence and looting.

The precedent is that of **Saturday, October 24**. That day, the protests called by Blocus in Barcelona ended in looting and police charges. In Madrid, the National Police identified and searched around **200 young people** who had gathered near Sol, which prevented incidents. After that failed attempt, Blocus profiles in the capital set the rematch: "See you on the 31st."

This Tuesday, a statement circulated on TikTok declared the Madrid call cancelled: "The Halloween operation has failed." The cancellation, however, carries little institutional weight. **Blocus has no identified spokespeople**: it operates through anonymous profiles that coordinate in Telegram and WhatsApp groups, so the withdrawal of one account does not guarantee that others will keep the date. The police are maintaining their preventive deployment, businesses have secured their premises, and calls for October 31 in **Málaga, Algeciras, Valencia, Zaragoza and Barcelona** remain active.

## Third week of strike with 65,000 teachers called out

The mask campaign is circulating in the third week of the indefinite education strike that began on **October 14** in non-university public education in the Madrid region, which around **65,000 teachers** have been called to join. It has been called by CCOO, UGT, CGT, CNT, STEM and Solidaridad Obrera, together with the platforms Menos Lectivas, Educación Especial Digna and Queremos FP.

Their demands include reducing class sizes and teaching hours and a **600-euro monthly** increase in the regional allowance. Zarzalejo has put that increase at **665 million euros a year** and has refused to meet with the strike committee, which she does not recognise as an interlocutor. The striking teachers have, for the moment, rejected any link with Blocus.

The coincidence of dates between a union protest and an anonymous call does not imply coordination, and neither side has provided evidence that there is any. It is worth separating the two: the strike has named organisers and a negotiating table; the network threatening to repeat the Barcelona riots does not.