Sol protest camp in Madrid disrupts Ceuta tribute, heads to court

Sol camp: Ceuta boycott and legal battle against Ayuso

Puerta del Sol has been occupied for days and the matter has moved from the placards to the courts. What began as a protest over housing prices ended with images projected against Isabel Díaz Ayuso during a tribute to Ceuta, while the Community of Madrid asks a judge to order the immediate eviction of the square.

A housing protest that ends up in court

The 48-hour ultimatum expired without anyone moving a tent. In response, the regional government announced administrative litigation proceedings with urgent precautionary measures to clear the space, with the Government Delegation under fire for not intervening. The standoff is not new: at its core, the dispute is whether this is a neighbourhood gathering or, as some analysts argue, an act of propaganda staged against the PP. The municipal police have enough riot officers, some point out, but nobody gives the order.

What peine with the images projected against Ayuso?

The scene that ignited the affair was the projection of content critical of the Madrid regional president and the mayor during a tribute to Ceuta. Those materials relate to immigration and to what peine in the autonomous city, circulate online without independent verification, and take the tone far beyond a political slogan. For many, the fact that the tribute turned into a showcase against the regional government is proof that the protest was not about rents.

Who funds the camp: the figures being cited

Here the story turns to money. It is claimed that the Sol Tenants' Union is part of a network that has received 3.7 million euros from socialist administrations, and that a think tank close to that structure received 1.2 million in public grants. These figures come from cited reports, not from a firm ruling, and should be treated as what they are: an unproven allegation. The breakdown, grant by grant, would fill an entire audit.

The 2018 mirror in Sant Jaume square

The most repeated comparison is with Barcelona. On 26 September 2018, the Mossos cleared the independence camp in Sant Jaume square citing security risks with the terrorist alert at level 4. Many see there the pattern of a double standard. No two cases are identical and the parallel is debatable, but the example has become the most useful argument of the whole episode, the one nobody rebuts with data.

With the precautionary measures still pending and not a single tent removed, the only clear outcome is that Sol has stopped being a housing problem and become a political thermometer. And there, for now, there is no verdict.