Spanish government advises against International Women's Day demonstrations

BarcelonaIt seems that the big feminist demonstrations of the last years for International Women's Day (8-M) will not be repeated this 2021. At least that's what the Spanish government is asking for, who, calling for "responsibility", has said that this year this type of mobilizations are not appropriate. "The epidemiological situation would not allow for these demonstrations to be carried out", said the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, who last year tested positive for covid-19 a few days after participating in the mobilizations in Madrid, which brought together more than 120,000 people.

In fact, the huge marches last year a few days before decreeing the state of alarm were useful for the right to criticize the management of the virus. For example, the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, considered that the 8-M favored the spread of the virus - despite having made a multitudinous party event on the same day. Both he and his number two, Javier Ortega Smith, tested positive for the virus, as well as numerous representatives who were at the head of the 8-M in Madrid, including Vice President Carmen Calvo, Pedro Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gomez, and the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero. This Wednesday the delegate of the Spanish government in the Community of Madrid, José Manuel Franco, has announced that marches of more than 500 people on 8-M will be banned.

A "gradual" easing of restrictions

Darias has called for caution this 8-M, but also before Easter and, in general, when it comes to easing the measures against the third wave of the pandemic. At a press conference after the meeting of the Interterritorial Health Council with the autonomous communities, the minister admitted that there is a "slowdown" in the decline of cases. That is, the incidence of the pandemic is falling but it does so much more slowly than what happened so far. Darias explained that in four weeks the incidence in the state has been reduced by 62%, although it has been "uneven", and now there is a "decrease in the speed of decline" because the fall is of 7% on average.

Therefore, she has called for "prudence and responsibility" to make a "gradual" easing of restrictions. "We know the consequences of easing measures abruptly", she warned, and said that there is still "a long way to go" to reach an incidence of 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days. In Catalonia right now the cumulative incidence is 276 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.