With the street protests against the government spreading over more and more corners of Spain, the controversy has flared up after some of these protests have reached the doorstep of the homes of several members of the Executive: the chalet of Pablo Iglesias and Irene Montero or the house of José Luis Ábalos. The second vice president has considered a "problem" that this type of actions can be "generalized" and has warned that the next ones could be the leaders of the PP and Vox.

"This is going to end up happening to other political leaders. Today they are right-wing people demonstrating at the door of my house. Tomorrow they will be left-wing people demonstrating in front of Ayuso's apartment, the Espinosa de los Monteros house or the house of Abascal, "Iglesias said in an interview on La Sexta.

This comment by the Podemos leader has been interpreted by the aforementioned Vox leaders as a "threat" to bring "his party to the club" in front of their homes in retaliation. "In my country, his friends from ETA already did it to me. And here we are," replied Santiago Abascal, who recalled that it was Iglesias who "invented" that the escraches to the politicians were "democratic syrup."

Similarly, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros has warned that Iglesias was "haranguing" for demonstrations outside his home. "I hold him directly responsible for any incident that may occur. And I am reinforced by the conviction that he is an inept person whose position is too great," he said. From one of the party's official accounts, he is accused of acting as a "thug" and rekindling the "hate speech."

During the television interview, Iglesias has maintained that he "had never" defended the escraches in front of the homes of PP politicians, as happened in 2013 with Vice President Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría . "I have never defended that they go to anyone's houses," he said. However, it was from his television program and after those episodes that he popularized the expression that escraches were "democratic syrup from below."

The second vice president has now considered that this type of protests in front of the houses is something "bad" and that it was necessary to "avoid", because they encouraged "tension". "Another thing is that, when you have public office, you have to assume that people can protest, or that they can tell you something on the street, as is normal, or that people go to your party headquarters or to the place where you work because that is part of democracy, "he added.

"We must try to protect our right to free assembly and demonstration in our society, but avoid situations of tension that no one wants," he insisted, assuming that politicians have to come "crying from home."

Iglesias has found the support, among others, of the Deputy Mayor of Madrid, Begoña Villacís , who has suffered several escraches in the Gay Pride demonstrations, for which they had to abandon the march and asked for the same solidarity when it happens to others.

The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida , from the PP, has also rejected these protests at home: "It was not democratic syrup before, and now we are not going to support cracks on the doors of the politicians' houses."

"I will always defend freedom of expression and protest. There is no democracy without freedom. I will always reject escraches, also those suffered by Abalos, Montero or Iglesias," he said, adding that he hopes to also receive the support of Podemos "when we are harassed. others".

The spokesperson for Unidas Podemos in Congress, Pablo Echenique, has condemned the protest in front of Ábalos' house. "One thing is the right to demonstrate and another very different thing is that extreme right-wing journalists send rude and aggressive posh men to intimidate and harass your wife and daughter. What I do not understand is why the authorities do not act," he said.

Similarly, Echenique has denied that these types of mobilizations can be called escraches, because in their opinion they are only if the concentrations are carried out by "humble people". In this case, he says, they are being starred by "wealthy and rude posers and the odd neo-Nazi."

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  • Pablo Iglesias
  • José Luis Ábalos
  • Santiago Abascal Conde
  • Isabel Díaz Ayuso
  • Iván Espinosa de los Monteros
  • Rocío Monasterio
  • Vox
  • PP
  • Irene Montero
  • Pablo Echenique

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