Madrid braces for cup clashes

Sporting authorities had already declared Friday’s King’s Cup final between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona a high-risk match, but a planned march by the ultra-right Falange and the Spanish Patriots’ Core on the same day and comments by Madrid regional premier Esperanza Aguirre have turned May 25 into an inflammatory date.

The Regional High Court of Madrid (TSJM) on Tuesday annulled a regional government resolution to move the march to May 28. The TSJM ruled that preventing the march would be a breach of freedom of expression and that it was impossible to prove that the demonstration, four hours before the game, which kicks off at 10pm, posed a threat to public safety.

The police, though, have said that it will be “difficult to control” the situation if extremist marchers decide to move on after the rally to the Vicente Calderón, where the match is to be played, or to the special zones set up for Athletic and Barcelona fans near the stadium to provoke a confrontation.

The police have been monitoring ultra-right internet forums and those of the clubs on which “there have been numerous commentaries and videos related to the march that include clear violent and xenophobic connotations relating to both sets of supporters.”

The police have said it will be “difficult to control” the situation after the right-wing march

The number of fans expected in the capital is uncertain. Both competing teams have a ticket allocation of 20,000, but a spokesman for Athletic told EL PAÍS that at least 20,000 more are expected to make the journey south. Barcelona has organized a fleet of 20 buses from Catalonia and the club says that there are around 40 more departing from various points in Spain carrying supporters’ clubs to the capital.

The fans’ zones are located along the banks of the Manzanares river, near the Vicente Calderón. Barcelona’s is located on the site of the Matadero multiple-leisure complex, around a mile from the stadium. Athletic’s has been set up near the Puente del Rey, in the shadow of the Royal Palace and about the same distance from the stadium in the opposite direction. The regional government has said that extra police and security forces will be deployed at both sites.

Aguirre, the regional premier, sparked controversy when she said that the match should be abandoned and played at a later date behind closed doors if the national anthem is booed before the game, as happened when the same sides faced each other in Valencia in the 2009 final.

Santiago Espot, the president of pro-independence Catalan political grouping Acciò Catalunya, who backs the protest against the national anthem, called Aguirre “totalitarian.”

Supporters’ groups from both clubs have previously announced they want to use the final to make renewed calls for their regional sides, which occasionally play unofficial matches, to be permitted to compete officially. In recent days rumors have abounded that Fermin Muguruza, a Basque musician famous for his pro-independence views, will play a concert at Athletic’s fan zone.

His name is not on the official list of acts but another historic band usually grouped in the genre of radical Basque punk is to play on Friday: Me Cago en Dios (I Shit on God) does a rendition of the official anthem of Athletic Club Bilbao, and is presumably not widely listened to among the ranks of the ultra-Catholic Falange Española.