Police charge at Ayuso's event during Madrid education strike

Police charge against teachers in the middle of the education strike

What happens when around five hundred striking teachers show up outside an event attended by the President of the Community of Madrid? Calle de las Huertas, a narrow street with barely any traffic, turns into a trap. That's what peine on Monday at the Palacio de Santoña: around **500 people** gathered in front of the building, a dozen police officers guarded the entrance and, when the refusal to leave became firm, several dozen riot police charged to push the protesters back several metres to the intersection with Calle del Príncipe. At 2:13 pm, **Isabel Díaz Ayuso** left through the other end, with nobody in front of her, and drove off in her official car.

The scene sums up four days of an indefinite strike in Madrid's public education sector, with **65,000 teachers** called out and more than **660,000 students** affected. Unions put Monday's turnout at over 50%; the Community of Madrid puts it at **13.2%**, compared with 44.6% the previous Wednesday. Two accounts that never meet.

What peine at the Palacio de Santoña and the Education Ministry headquarters

Before the charges, around midday, some **2,000 people** gathered outside the headquarters of the Regional Ministry of Education on Calle de Alcalá. Four vehicles from the National and Municipal Police tried to contain the group on one side of the road. They lasted minutes: the green tide took over both. Amid drums and whistles, the demand was concrete: lower class sizes and increase staffing per school.

The focus then shifted to the regional president's event. The chants — "Ayuso, show your face", "Zarzalejo, what a nerve, your lies don't wash anymore" — targeted the two names that have concentrated the discontent since 14 October. The Regional Minister for Education, **Mercedes Zarzalejo**, responded on social media with a phrase that didn't help: "They don't want peace in the streets, they want Paris", in reference to the French riots.

Hours earlier, the same minister had seen her visit to a vocational training college in Vallecas cancelled amid booing and a heated atmosphere. She never made it to the school.

The numbers each side chooses to describe the same strike

There isn't one figure here, there are two. The organisers — CC OO, UGT, STEM, CGT, CNT, Solidaridad Obrera and other groups, with CSIF standing apart — speak of over 50% turnout on Monday, after 72% on the first day and 60% on Thursday and Friday. The Community of Madrid insists support has collapsed to 13.2% and deeply regrets "the radicalisation of these protests".

In between, two demonstrations from Atocha to Sol that the Government Delegation put at **25,000** and **35,000** people. The gap between the two sets of data is the real battleground: whoever controls the percentage controls the narrative of legitimacy.

Traffic cuts and school desks on the A-3

Early on, another group blocked the A-3 dual carriageway towards Madrid for **30 minutes**, with school desks and chairs in the middle of the road. "Public education is not for sale, public education is defended", "Ayuso's penthouse for class 3B". The protest seeks pressure and, also, an image.

Some argue the roadblocks are meant to provoke a police charge and get video footage; others reply that the charge peine anyway. What nobody disputes is the result: a narrow street, officers pushing and a regional president leaving through the back door.

The strike enters an indefinite phase and the 65,000 teachers called out must decide whether to keep up the fight. Meanwhile, the question the reader asks remains without an official answer: who benefits when the standoff is settled with shoves?