Police brushes spark concern among Madrid officials fearing 15-M anarchy

Recent incidents in Madrid, where members of the 15-M movement have tried to block police arrests, are prompting concern among regional government officials who say that they are worried that the protest platform has become a stage for future anarchy.

The latest episode occurred Tuesday evening when about 200 15-M demonstrators and their supporters surrounded municipal police officers in Lavapiés to demand they stop harassing immigrants in Madrid's famously multi-cultural neighborhood. It was the second anti-police protest that has erupted in Lavapiés in a week.

Pandemonium broke out at around 10pm when officers approached a group of about 15 African immigrants to ask them for their residency cards, according to one witness. Police sources said that officers had been searching for a suspect for two days on charges that he sold drugs to a minor.

But the incident sparked a large and spontaneous demonstration as the arrest was taking place. Residents surrounded the officers, chanting "Get out of the neighborhood," while some threw objects at the police.

After the officers called for backup, the protests turned violent with demonstrators throwing rocks at vehicles. Following some tense moments, the police withdrew, after having arrested the man they approached. The suspect is a 26-year-old Senegalese national who has a past record of selling drugs. He was turned over to the National Police.

On Wednesday, Ignacio González, Madrid's deputy regional premier, said that it was "unacceptable" for citizens to keep the police from doing their jobs, and blamed Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba - who stepped down last Friday as interior minister to run on the Socialist ticket for prime minister - for allowing the 15-M movement to take matters into its own hands. "I cannot understand how anyone can go beyond the law and take over the streets as if they owned them, and stop law enforcement from carrying out its duties," González said.

He said he hoped that the new interior minister, Antonio Camacho, "doesn't follow the lead" of his predecessor, Rubalcaba, and would take measures to stop 15-M from getting out of hand.

Tuesday's events were almost a repeat of another incident that occurred on July 5, when a group of people from the 15-M movement, buoyed by local residents, tried to prevent officers from arresting another Senegalese man for allegedly jumping a subway turnstile. A fiery episode was ignited when a woman saw three Metro security guards and two plainclothes officers pinning the man against the wall inside the Lavapiés Metro station. After asking the officers if they were detaining him because he had no papers, the woman ran outside and alerted members of the 15-M movement, who were having a meeting in the square. According to one witness, a crowd of about 100 then entered the station and surrounded the officers, demanding that they turn the suspect loose. "No human being is illegal," they shouted.

"It looked like a raid," said one woman who witnessed the incident. However, Metro officials tell a different story. The man, later identified as Abdoulay Sek, a street vendor from Senegal, turned violent when he was asked for his Metro ticket during a routine inspection. "Of course, he didn't want to pay the fine," said one Metro employee.

When the officers tried to escort the man from inside the station, they were blocked by a crowd sitting on the stairwell, filing city complaint forms against the Metro. They had to use the elevator, but more people surrounded them as they reached the ground level.

According to one witness, some of the officers became aggressive and used force to push their way through. But the demonstrators didn't make it easy for the officers. Crowds tried to keep the vehicle from driving off with Sek and the police had to take an alternative route.

Francisco Granados, secretary general of the Madrid branch of the Popular Party and the regional government's interior chief, said that he was concerned by the 15-M incidents, where "mobs throw themselves in front of police officers."

"These are dress rehearsals or training sessions for the day when [PP candidate] Mariano Rajoy becomes prime minister," Granados said. "We have to stop this immediately because this is becoming a general disregard for the law."