The spokesperson for Vox at the Madrid City Council, Javier Ortega Smith, yesterday attacked and threw an “empty” bottle at the councilor of Més Madrid Eduardo Rubiño in the plenary session of Cibeles, an act censured by the parties of the left and by the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.
The confusing incident took place at the end of the ordinary plenary session in December, which concluded with a motion by Vox to reject the motion of no confidence in Pamplona to give the mayorship of the Navarre capital to Joseba Asiron, from EH Bildu.
After what happened, when the debate on the motion had not yet ended, the councilors of Més Madrid and the PSOE left the chamber as a sign of rejection. The departure took place after a heated exchange of words with the president of the plenary session, Borja Fanjul, and with Ortega Smith.
The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, said that Ortega Smith should step down as a councillor. The ultra councilor replied that he had no intention of leaving the record and denied the assault on Fernández Rubiño. “May the assailant recover from his serious injuries”, he quipped at the end of his press conference. “Probably, as a human being that I am, I shouldn’t have thrown the bottle at him, which by the way, was empty. There has been no aggression and I regret that some, like the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, want to row politically and get some kind of income saying that this ‘aggression’ is unacceptable”, continued Ortega Smith.
“Condemnation without palliatives of an unjustifiable act, of an aggression that should never have taken place in the plenary session of the Madrid City Council, is a sad day for this Madrid City Council; I think we are all aware that the debates are heated, but also of the cordial relationship we maintain”, said the mayor in subsequent statements to the press. “Both what happened with Mr. Daniel Viondi and what happened today with Ortega Smith is absolutely unacceptable, and demands that neither Mr. Viondi have the record nor that Mr. Ortega Smith withhold the record at this time,” added.
At the end of September, Daniel Viondi, a socialist councilor, resigned from his position after being expelled from the plenary session. He slapped the mayor in the face, to whom he apologized.
