Avalanche of requests for resignation to Ortega Smith for throwing a bottle of water at a councilor of More Madrid

2023-12-22 21:06:37

Attack on Madrid City Hall

The mayor of Madrid joined in and the leader of Vox apologized at the end of the plenary session

MadridThe spokesperson for Vox at the Madrid City Council, Javier Ortega Smith, is in the spotlight after he physically assaulted a councilor from Més Madrid during the municipal meeting this Friday afternoon. When he finished speaking from the speaker’s stand in a debate on the no-confidence motion in Pamplona agreed between EH Bildu and PSOE, Ortega Smith approached Eduardo Fernández Rubiño’s seat and threw him a bottle of ’empty’ water. “I didn’t touch him physically,” Ortega Smith alleged in response to Més Madrid’s spokeswoman, Rita Maestre, who demanded that he apologize. In a video shared by a user of the X social network, you can see the impact caused by Ortega Smith’s move, which has generated an avalanche of resignation requests, including the one made by the mayor of Madrid, the popular José Luis Martínez-Almeida.

The affected councilor has denounced before leaving the debate, as an act of protest for the aggression and to denounce the fact that the presidency of the plenary in the hands of the PP has not expelled Ortega Smith, that the Vox spokesman has approached him with “aggressive and intimidating attitude”. Subsequently, Fernández Rubiño has claimed in a message on the X social network the resignation of the spokesperson of the far-right party.

The PSOE joined during the plenary session the request that Ortega Smith return the minutes. Subsequently, in statements to the media, the mayor of Madrid has also claimed it. “It is necessary to stop the escalation of aggression that is taking place at the City Council meeting”, said Almeida, condemning the “unjustifiable” behavior of the Vox spokesman. Almeida’s reaction cannot be understood without recalling the precedent of socialist councilor Daniel Viondi, who ended up resigning in September for having touched the mayor’s face three times after an intervention in plenary.

Almeida recalled the case that caused the expulsion of the PSOE councilor from the plenum and argued that if Viondi’s behavior made it “unacceptable” for him to continue holding the position, that of Ortega Smith, who has “the same characteristics”, means that he cannot retain the act of councilor. “He is not currently qualified to represent the whole of Madrid”, he insisted, and “it is not justified in any way”.

You apologize despite denying the aggression

Ortega Smith has justified his behavior by saying that the councilor of Més Madrid had insulted him. Fernández Rubiño explained that he told him that he was “disgusted” by the words of the Vox spokesperson and denied having reprimanded him. After the spokeswoman for Més Madrid asked several times and after an initial refusal, Ortega Smith ended up apologizing for having thrown the bottle. Maestre has asked the president of the plenary, Francisco de Borja Fanjul, of the PP, to expel him.

Since he has not done so, the councilors of Més Madrid have left the room. De Borja has opined that they did it “because they want a headline” and has limited himself to giving Ortega Smith the floor to give him the opportunity to apologize without drawing attention to him for his behavior. The spokeswoman for Més Madrid was the first to demand that Ortega Smith return the minutes of councilor. In the plenary session, Almeida did not join in, but in the end he ended up leaving the Vox spokesperson alone, who is now being questioned by the rest of the City Council groups.

However, Ortega Smith remains in the same position. In subsequent statements, the Vox spokesman has denied that there is talk of aggression. “It’s frivolous that the left uses this to make money and that the mayor buys it,” he denounced.