Using a hateful attack in Madrid for political purposes

It seems both sides are desperate for the ‘right’ criminals to be caught.

Here in Madrid, an attack on a homosexual by (at the time of writing) an unknown group this past Sunday has, predictably, erupted into a debate about how responsible the political party Vox is for the attack. Battle lines have been drawn with one side stating the rhetoric of Vox is fuelling this, whilst the party themselves have stated the increasing number of immigrants from, shall we say, less than gay-friendly parts of the world is at fault.

Claim and counter claim has been made about the identity of the criminals. Reports vary from La Razon stating they were a Latin gang, to others saying the police deny this. It seems both sides are desperate for the ‘right’ criminals to be caught. Demonstrations and counter demonstrations look set to take place across Madrid throughout the week and no doubt the story will rumble on throughout the month.

Sadly, this has pushed the devastation that has hit communities in Spain, due to last week’s horrific floods, out of the national spotlight and shows once again that events in Madrid, just like London in the UK, dominate far too much of the national discourse.

Away from the culture wars, some actual culture is breaking out in Madrid with the start of the Gallery Weekend, a whole host of exhibitions and events designed to show off art from around the world and contribute to the reawakening of Madrid’s cultural offering. For September’s print magazine, yours truly will be mooching his way around to bring you a small slice of what many of us have been missing out on in these Covid times.