Madrid court blocks lockdown as infringement of basic rights

A MADRID court blocked an order to l ock down the capital because it impinged on residents’ basic freedoms, throwing into chaos the coronavirus response in Europe’s worst-hit city.

Restrictions introduced last Friday banning people from non- essential travel in and out of the capital were ruled to be unlawful invasions of fundamental f reedom by t he regional supreme court.

A rule of six limiting social gatherings and a 50 per cent capacity rule on all public indoor spaces were understood to still be in force, however.

In a remarkable turn of events, the judges’ decision left the president of the regional government pleading with Madrid residents not to embark on journeys to mark a three-day holiday weekend, despite the fact her government had opposed the lockdown and challenged it in court.

“Nobody understands the rules. Citizens don’t know what is going on,” Isabel Diaz Ayuso said after the court’s decision. “We ask people not to leave Madrid and to follow healthcare rules given that there is a long weekend coming,” she added, suggesting that new measures would be decided on and issued by today.

Monday is Spain’s National Day, leading to fears that thousands of Madrid residents could take advantage of the situation to head off for a long weekend.

The prospect prompts painful flashbacks to the days before Spain’s national lockdown was introduced on March 15, when mayors from towns on the Mediterranean coast complained of an influx of residents from the capital.

“This i s no time to travel,” said Manuel Villegas, the health minister of Murcia, a region popular as a secondhome location for Madrid residents.

According to Madrid’s daily Covid-19 bulletin yesterday, the previous 24 hours had seen 3,151 new cases registered and 39 deaths, continuing the trend of the region accounting for around one third of positive cases and fatalities across Spain.

Unsatisfied with the region’s failure to introduce broad lockdown measures, Spain’s Left-wing government, led by Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister, last week approved measures triggering a perimeter lockdown in any town or city where certain Covid-related criteria were reached.

In fact, only Madrid and its larger suburbs met the bar of having a 14-day accumulation of more than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, a positivity rate in tests above 10 per cent, and 35 per cent Covid occupancy of hospital ICUS.

“This plan destroys Madrid without any scientific criteria,” Ms Diaz Ayuso, from the conservative Popular Party, said at the time. “Thank you for the chaos, Pedro Sánchez.”

Ms Diaz Ayuso’s regional government had previously imposed perimeter lockdowns on 45 districts in and around the capital, and has since claimed that these measures were working as the 14-day transmission rate has fallen from close to 800 per 100,000 people to fewer than 600.

Madrid’s supreme court argued that the health ministry order that had been applied in the Madrid region had not been based on legislation with the necessary scope to curtail basic constitutional rights.

‘Nobody understands the rules. Citizens don’t know what is going on. We ask people not to leave Madrid’