Student groups say the Government delegate and UCM rector should resign if nobody is held accountable for Wednesday’s operation. Five were detained; ten were injured, including two seriously.
At about 9:30 a.m. on 14 October, police carried out an operation beside the Faculty of Chemistry at the Campus de Ciudad Universitaria. Students and education workers were holding an information picket on the first day of an indefinite education strike. Ten people were injured, two seriously, and five were detained.
On Friday, 16 October, the student movement called for Government delegate Francisco Martín and Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) rector Joaquín Goyache to resign if no one was held accountable. EFE reported five arrests and injuries to demonstrators and a police officer.
At a press conference in the UCM Rectorate gardens, student representatives called the police action an unjustified assault on an information picket. They said the workers and students were exercising their right to strike and take part in an academic stoppage. The protests formed part of wider demonstrations by students and staff in defence of public education.
The representatives said Martín should be held responsible for ordering the operation or failing to control it. They also criticised Goyache, whose authorisation is required for police to enter the university campus. The students demanded explanations and accountability. They also called for those detained to be released without charges.
UCM said it had neither requested nor promoted the National Police presence or intervention on campus. The university publicly condemned the police charges.
Emma García represented UCM x la Pública. Nekane Medrano spoke for Frente de Estudiantes. Matilde Gómez represented Organización Estudiantil Socialista. Valeria Racu, spokesperson for Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid, joined them.
The students disputed the claim that areas between the faculties at Ciudad Universitaria do not count as campus space. They also denounced what they described as growing police repression against movements defending social rights. The Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) condemned the police action and called for the circumstances to be established. It stressed the need to protect freedom of expression in universities.
A report on the initial response said Martín apologised and ordered an urgent investigation after the police charge. On 14 October, he asked the regional police chief to investigate officers’ actions. He said responses to any aggression must be proportionate.
On 15 October, Martín said the National Police’s internal review had begun. It would gather accounts from the parties and examine documentation. Disciplinary measures could follow.
Police said officers intervened after receiving reports of blocked streets and people with covered faces at the gathering. They also alleged an attempt to break through a police cordon, along with assaults on officers. The review was intended to establish the circumstances of the operation. Friday’s student protest took place in the campus’s plaza de las Ciencias.
Separately, UCM workers called a meeting at the Rectorate. The university leadership and Delegación del Gobierno were invited, as were university staff. The police investigation was still under way on 16 October. No final disciplinary decisions had been announced.
