Metro station closed over ammonia
The regional government of Madrid, led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, closed the Sol station of the Metro at 12.15 on Friday, 16 October, and said it would stay shut until further notice. The Community blames ammonia produced by urine, faeces and other organic waste that has built up in the ventilation shafts beneath the camp, and it wants urgent cleaning before any reopening. El Mundo reports that at one station entrance, the lobby leading to calle Mayor, ammonia readings were between 36 and 77 times higher than in the outside air. Disinfection crews began work late on Friday, but no reopening date has been set.
- Housing-rights encampment begins in Puerta del Sol
- Man threatens camp coordinator and brandishes a knife, later detained
- Sol Metro station closed until further notice
- General strike date that organisers are considering staying until
Transport ministry disputes health risk
The Ministry of Transport, led by Óscar Puente, says it has detected no salubrity problems at the station. Cercanías trains keep stopping at Sol, and the commuter rail access through the entrance known as 'la ballena' remains open. Puente attacked the regional president on X, writing:
She is a miserable and evil person. She screws over public transport users, purely out of malice.
About 60,000 people use the Metro station each day, slightly more than the 56,000 who use Cercanías there, according to El Mundo. El País, however, puts the number of people passing through the station daily at more than 300,000 citizens and tourists, so the figures differ widely by source.
In an interview on esRadio, Díaz Ayuso said nobody knows what is being endured in central Madrid. She blamed Pedro Sánchez for leaving the city overcrowded and jammed, and said shops on the surrounding streets are empty because people are afraid to shop there.
Camp, fines and the standoff with the delegation
The encampment began on 26 September as a protest over housing. La Razón counted 21 days as of 17 October, and El Confidencial reports that organisers are weighing staying until the general strike on 11 November. Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida said the closure is a hygiene decision, and that municipal police have issued about 200 fines, including to people caught urinating in the street or at the Metro entrance. The Community has given the government an ultimatum to clear the square as soon as possible, citing what it calls biological risk for passengers and Metro staff.
Deputy mayor Inma Sanz, who holds the security and emergencies portfolio, has accused the government delegate, Francisco Martín, of tolerating an illegal encampment. She said the delegation has one month to answer the city's request to dismantle the camp, and that the city will take legal action if it does not respond in time.
The government delegate is playing with the safety and physical integrity of Madrid's residents.
Thursday's threat and the commercial toll
On Thursday, 15 October, around 14.30, police received a call about a man who had threatened a camp coordinator, a woman, according to El Confidencial. He had thrown a beer can at her and was brandishing a knife when patrols arrived at a dispute over the camp's rest rules. Officers reportedly chose not to intervene given the hostility toward police inside the camp and asked for riot-unit reinforcements. The man was detained as he tried to flee, and he is accused of an alleged threats offence. Police found drugs in his backpack but no knife, and he has been proposed for an administrative sanction. The police do not confirm whether he was a member of the camp.
Retailers are feeling the impact most sharply. The Madrid specialist trade federation Cocem puts losses for shops near the square at nearly 25 million euros and says more than 6,000 businesses have disappeared in the past year. Acotex says accumulated losses at shops in the area are close to 70%. Its president, Eduardo Zamácola, told La Razón:
we can now conclude that this is an absolute catastrophe for the trade in the area
The government delegation has not moved to clear the square, and it says no health problems have been detected at the station. It has asked the Community to specify which concrete risks affect its facilities and why cleaning and disinfection cannot be carried out while the service continues.