by Inti Landauro and Nathan Allen
MADRID (Reuters) – The Spanish government on Thursday banned parades to commemorate International Women’s Day on March 8 in Madrid, as events last year sparked heated controversy over the issue of the spread of the coronavirus.
“Madrid remains one of the regions in Spain with the highest infection rate and the highest number of hospital admissions,” the main representative of the central government in the Madrid region said during of a press conference.
Jose Manuel Franco said the administration received 104 requests for permission to demonstrate on March 7 and 8, which would have brought at least 60,000 people to the streets of the capital.
“The problem is the size of the crowds that would gather in a few hours and in a few places,” he said.
The number of infections per 100,000 people recorded over the past two weeks has fallen sharply across Spain to an average of 160 cases. Yet Madrid is the only mainland region where the number exceeds 250 cases – a threshold that Spain’s health ministry considers an “extreme risk” of contagion.
With 261 cases reported on Wednesday, up from 273 on Tuesday, Madrid remains the city with the highest incidence of the virus, except for the North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
Last year thousands of people, including Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and half of his cabinet, marched through Madrid as the virus was already circulating in Spain.
A week later, the government imposed one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe as contaminations and deaths skyrocketed.
Opposition officials have strongly criticized Pedro Sanchez for allowing these parades, although the health ministry has played down the role of the protests in spreading the virus.
Spain’s Minister for Gender Equality, Irene Montero, tested positive a few days after the marches.
Sanchez’s government has made gender equality a political priority.
After the ban was announced, Irene Montero, a very committed feminist, said she would adhere to public health recommendations and not participate in parades, however warning against any attempt to curb the feminist movement.
(French version Dagmarah Mackos, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)
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