Spanish Court Overturns Madrid Lockdown, Saying it Violates Citizens’ “Fundamental Rights”
Madrid High Court: New lockdown measures an “interference by public authorities in citizens’ fundamental rights.”
On Thursday, a Spanish court overturned the latest government lockdown restrictions placed on the capital, Madrid, and 9 other cities.
Madrid’s highest regional court rejected the measures imposed by the Spanish central government, calling them an “interference by public authorities in citizens’ fundamental rights.”
Following the judgment, Spanish authorities will not be able to levy fines on people who break the new Wuhan coronavirus restrictions in central Spain, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.
“The restrictions limited activities outside of the home to going to work, school or medical emergencies,” Germany’s DW News explained.
The ruling comes as Spain, Germany, and other European countries report a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. As European governments rush to impose fresh restrictions, fearing the so-called second wave of the Chinese virus, public protests against the lockdown measures are growing louder and bigger.
French news channel EuroNews reported the Spanish court’s ruling:
A high court in Madrid on Thursday rejected measures forced on the region by the central government, which included the partial lockdown of the Spanish capital and nine neighbouring municipalities.
The court “rejected the ratification (of the measures), because they harmed the fundamental rights and freedoms” of the 4.5 million inhabitants affected by the partial lockdown, which came into force on Friday evening, the court said in a statement.
As a result of the decision, fines cannot be handed out to citizens who break the rules.
The central government — a coalition of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Unidas Podemos — has locked horns with the conservative-led Madrid regional government over the measures.(…)
Spain’s national government ordered two weeks of new restrictions that started at 10 pm on Friday despite pushback from regional officials.
The measures prohibited all nonessential trips in and out of Madrid and nine of its suburbs — affecting around 4.8 million people.
London and Berlin have become major centers of anti-lockdown protests. Unlike the recent ‘climate change’ and ‘anti-racism’ protests, which were cheered on by European politicians and mainstream media, authorities are coming down heavily on these anti-establishment protests.
London Police, which famously ‘took the knee‘ during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations earlier this year, clashed with the anti-lockdown protesters last month and arrested several of them.
“Police have broken up a protest in central London after thousands of people defied their advice and demonstrated against lockdowns, mass vaccinations, mandatory wearing of face masks and other coronavirus restrictions,” the left-wing British newspaper Guardian reported on September 26. London’s Metropolitan Police threatened these demonstrators with “criminal penalties” for violating government orders.
In August, the Berlin state government banned a large anti-lockdown demonstration. A German court ruled against the ban, allowing close to 40,000 demonstrators to come out against the restrictions.
The German government has canceled this year’s Munich Oktoberfest and is mulling the cancellation of Rhineland’s upcoming carnival festival. While German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government uses public safety to justify these bans, it has been openly rooting for the Black Lives Matters protests. Chancellor Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, argued that it “it is good if people take to the streets in Germany as well with a clear statement against racism” in line with the protests in the United States.
In today’s Europe, public health and safety concern is only raised by the government and the media when protesters come out against the establishment. Violent agitators from the far-left groups Antifa and Extinction Rebellion, who support the political class’s agenda, are feted as peaceful demonstrators even when they rampage on streets and clash with ordinary people and police.
“Berlin police try to shut down protest against coronavirus restrictions” (August 29, 2020)
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Comments
The world is crazy
And scary
Maybe we all move to Sweden or South Dakota
South Dakota for me.
Unfortunately, too many Americans read the instructions on shampoo bottles and toothpaste tubes for fear of doing it wrong. What hope is there that such people can be expected to understand the US Constitution? They just hand over their God-given rights to tyrants without a second thought. We no longer deserve to be free if that is how easy it is to take away our ice cream.
To be fair, American philosophy is centered on the political spectrum: Pro-Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, free of diversity and other bigotry, is a turnoff for progressive sects, various liberal factions, and certain individuals of the libertarian right with left-wing sympathies.
To be faaaaiiiirrrr……
Phil, your thoughts echo mine. I have basically waved the white flag, stateside. That doesn’t mean I won’t support conservative candidates and causes, nor does it mean that I won’t continue to express pro-freedom, anti-totalitarian opinions. But, like you, the thought has crossed my mind that, if a majority of foolish, easily-duped ingrates here in the U.S. willingly choose despotic ideologies and policies, rejecting with an ingrate’s sensibility the precious uniqueness and fragility of American freedom — despite having access to a voluminous historical and contemporary record and free information vis-a-vis the suffering and death inflicted by said ideologies — that’s their choice, and, they deserve to reap the consequences. Everyone else will suffer, undeservedly.
I wonder if masks and social distancing will be mandated during seasonal flu and other deadly outbreaks, throughout the year, on a forward-looking basis.
Good for them.
Great Barrington Declaration
As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.
Rational, practical, prudent, and bold.
My local hospital and doctor’s office, which you cannot enter without both a mask and a temperature check, are already featuring signage that says “Wear a mask to help prevent seasonal flu.”
Perhaps not prevent, but reduce exposure. To be consistent, they should advise to wear goggles, too.
A temperature reading is minimally invasive and an elevated temperature is an indicator of many types of infections. Masks have some value in limited use and in certain contexts. A medical facility, an indoor structure with close quarters, sustained contact, where there is known or probable exposure, would be a context where a mask is useful to mitigate cross-contamination. Physical distancing is better. The transmission mode (e.g. droplet, aerosol, surface) is a determinative factor. Also, watch your hand movements to avoid transfer from contaminated surfaces, especially your mask.
That said, different masks have different effectiveness. Proper use (e.g. behavior) is critical. Knowing the limitations is critical.
Postoperative wound infections and surgical face masks: a controlled study
Surgical wounds – the study is of bacterial infection, not viral infection. Generally speaking, bacteria are 100 times larger than viruses, and a viral load large enough to cause an infection can be carried in the smallest aerosols. As has been remarked by others, expecting cotton cloth to stop a virus (or small aerosols) is like expecting a chain link fence to stop a mosquito.
This seems to be happening more and more
Apparently, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
Now if only the fascists generalissimos here would follow his example.
Isn’t it amazing. The Spanish government is now officially better at protecting individual rights than the American government.
Great reporting from Europe, as usual, Vijeta! Thank you for your always-insightful posts. 🙂
In the tradition of Franco, Spain sticks up for citizens’ individual rights.
/sarc
So, centralized govts like movements, even riots, that advocate for more centralized direction n control, and object when the issue would lead to less of that. It’s like what matters is how much juice the overlords have, not how much citizens can do on their own.
“Your govt: makin livin easier across the board, so you can do more … of we have no idea what, but it’ll be cool.” – said no Eric Cartman, ever.
/It’s Just the Eternal Power Grab
Paraphrasing a point Sen Lee’s – I have the right guy? – acct tried to twit earlier this week: The purpose is to govern ourselves to our own advantage, in our own terms starting with keepin people off each other, because lots of people are jerks.
Right now “risk” is just B S cover; they think they found a lever at last for “everything not compulsory is forbidden.”
They’re dpinning each factoid n mitigation the same way. More proclamation, direction, n enforcement is double-plus good. Anything that’ll enable us to live in a world with this pathogen too is the other thing.
Are we bored with this yet?