Núcleo National march ends in police clashes in Madrid

Ferraz: Police charges during Núcleo National march

One of the first messages about the march states that the column leaving Plaza de España "does not reach 200 people". Five minutes before the start, the march organized by Núcleo National seemed destined to remain an anecdote. That same night, it ended with police charges, the dissolution of the demonstration, and a young man with a broken or nearly broken leg on a sidewalk in Marqués de Urquijo, according to an attendee. Between one moment and the next, the count of attendees went from 200 to 5,000, depending on who was asked.

What Núcleo National was calling for and why it was not about DANA

The march left Plaza de España with the destination being the Socialist headquarters at Ferraz. The chants heard were "Mazón resignation," which confused more than one person: some attendees believed the protest was a response to the management of the Valencia floods. It was not. "It was called before the floods," pointed out someone who was there from the beginning. The confusion extends to the name of the organizer: the same tracking warns of the mix-up between Núcleo Nacional and Noviembre Nacional. Before the charge, there were also drones flying over the area, a detail that one user read as a precursor to being surrounded.

How many people attended the Ferraz demonstration?

It depends on the photo and the minute. Not reaching 200 people, reads the first message accompanying the images of the departure. Its own author later clarifies: "It has not even started." With the column already moving, another assessment raises the tone: "There are quite a few people." And by nightfall, an attendee who says they have been there from the beginning launches the highest figure: 5,000 people. In between, a more conservative balance leaves the peak at around 2,000 demonstrators and concludes that with that number, they are not going anywhere: at least 20,000 would be needed.

The police charge and the double standard under discussion

The demonstration was paralyzed halfway along Marqués de Urquijo, without incidents, before the police charged. Afterward, there was a medium charge on the street and a second one at Ferraz until everyone dispersed. A young man ended up with a broken or nearly broken leg on the sidewalk. "We were scared by the avalanches," summarizes someone who experienced it from the front row. The episode peine the comparison with Valencia. The complaint circulating is that vandalizing the Valencia City Hall is permitted, yet one cannot get closer than 20 meters to the Ferraz door. The response from the other side is as simple as it is uncomfortable: when the police charge against some, it is good, and when they charge against others, it is bad.

Does it make sense to protest at an empty headquarters?

That is the most repeated reproach. Going to shout in front of a building with no one inside, at eight in the evening, with the security device already deployed, is read as the worst possible script. One participant claims that owners of restaurants in the area, who appeared on television, maintain that this type of protest is ruining their business. The alternative that circulates involves improvised acts in busy places, on holidays, and early in the day, to extend the media impact. Others directly call for escalating the tone: leaving cars ready and moving to what they call urban guerrilla warfare. In response, the defense of the call is textbook: something must be done against what they call incivil of the regime, and one must start somewhere.

Was this a Vox demonstration?

No, and those who organized it insist on the distance. The march is defined as nationalist with an explicit goal: to overthrow the 1978 regime. From there, the lingering doubt is what is revolutionary about that and what has to do with Vox, when Vox does not appear anywhere in the organization. It is an old debate that returns whenever such a call seeks its own space outside the umbrella of a political party.

The ultra aesthetic that causes discomfort inside and out

The liturgy of the march generated as much rejection as the police charge itself. One attendee describes "too much far-right paraphernalia" and an aesthetic display that left passersby stunned. Another participant mentions greetings considered "a bit strong." From the identity side, the counterattack is returned: talk of keeping out elements that do not fit and of kids from Usera, Vallecas, and Leganés, not retirees or gentlemen from the Salamanca neighborhood. The battle for the narrative is fought within the demonstration itself.

With those numbers, the problem is no longer how many people fit in Marqués de Urquijo. It is how many are needed for something to change. The next call has a date: November 22. If the calculation that circulated that night holds, 20,000 attendees as a minimum to move something, the distance between the goal and reality remains an order of magnitude.