A Madrid magistrate has declined jurisdiction over the regional government's appeal against the Puerta del Sol camp. The case now goes to the TSJM, which has 48 hours to decide whether it can hear the request for urgent measures.
A magistrate has declined jurisdiction over the appeal filed by the Community of Madrid against the housing camp at Madrid's Puerta del Sol. The case now moves to the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid, known as the TSJM. Once the competent court takes up the matter, it has 48 hours to rule on the urgent application.
The first-instance judge said the appeal concerns alleged inaction by the Government Delegate in Madrid, Francisco Martín. The regional government says Martín failed to use the powers available to him. It describes the camp as a persistent illegal occupation of Puerta del Sol.
In a statement dated 1 October, the Community of Madrid asked for immediate measures against what it calls an illegal occupation of public space.
The Community of Madrid has asked for “cautelarísimas” measures: an exceptionally urgent order seeking the immediate dissolution and evacuation of the camp at Puerta del Sol.
The first court said no.
According to the order, the case involves an alleged failure to act by an organ of the State's peripheral administration. Challenges of this kind do not fall within the authority of the instance courts. The body involved does not exercise power across the entire national territory, and the case has no determined financial amount.
The parties have been summoned before the TSJM. They must appear and defend their positions there, or the appeal will expire.
All parties consulted by the magistrate supported that procedural route. That included the lawyer representing the Community of Madrid. The transfer does not settle the underlying dispute. It does not order the camp's removal. It sends the legal challenge to the court the first judge considers competent.
The Government Delegate’s office says it will protect the fundamental right to peaceful assembly while also maintaining security around the Real Casa de Correos, a protected cultural building and the seat of Madrid’s regional government. That position places the dispute between the right to protest and the authorities’ responsibilities for public access and protection of the site.
The dispute has already taken on a strong political charge. Isabel Díaz Ayuso said the regional government would go to court over what she called the Government Delegate's inaction at the settlement promoted by the Sindicato de Inquilinas.
During a session of the Madrid Assembly, Ayuso said access should at least remain clear enough for ambulances and ordinary movement around the square. She also referred to complaints from shopkeepers and people with pushchairs.
Ayuso made the judicial move after issuing a 48-hour ultimatum to the central government. Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida also said the city could consider legal action if the protest continued.
Martín has rejected that account. The Government Delegate said the authorities were taking the steps they considered appropriate. He also said the camp was fully respecting the legal order.
His office has stressed that the response must protect the right of assembly and the security of the Real Casa de Correos. The TSJM now faces a narrow procedural question. The political consequences are immediate.
The camp is also linked to planned demonstrations over housing measures. An earlier Sol report described preparations for a march from Puerta del Sol to Congress during a vote on two housing decrees.
The protest is linked to the Sindicato de Inquilinas. It grew out of a wider dispute over evictions, housing policy and the right to demonstrate. The site has therefore become both a public-space dispute and a prominent setting for the housing campaign.
So far, the court has made a limited procedural decision. The Madrid instance court will not resolve the original appeal. The TSJM's 48-hour window sets a clear deadline for the urgent application, but only if the higher court considers itself competent to hear the case.
The claims over public access, government inaction and the camp's legality remain open. As reported by El País, Madrid's municipal government has also taken interest because the encampment could remain in place.
Ayuso's legal initiative has moved forward by one step. The eviction has not happened.
