The spokesperson for the regional Executive, Miguel Ángel García Martín, has regretted that this afternoon’s Euroleague basketball match at the Movistar Arena between Real Madrid and Maccabi Tel Aviv will be held behind closed doors, which he has attributed to the “incompetence” of the Government, “not being able to guarantee security.”
“We find it, frankly, regrettable,” García Martín declared to the media during a visit to Pozuelo del Rey.
Police recommendations
The celebration of the match without an audience responds to a decision taken by Real Madrid itself in response to police recommendations, in the same line as other recent matches played by Israeli clubs in Barcelona, Valencia or Manresa.
The Government delegate, Francisco Martín, confirmed on Monday that “various concentrations” of rejection of Israel and support for Palestine have been reported around the Movistar Arena on Thursday afternoon and that, to guarantee both the development of the match and the “right to demonstrate”, there will be a “significant deployment” by the National Police, equivalent to that of a high-risk soccer match.
“By action or omission, they do not do everything possible to guarantee the safety of these great events,” complained García Martín, who recalled, in this sense, the cancellation of the last stage of the Vuelta Ciclista a España, last September, as a result of protests against the participation of the Israel-Premier Tech team.
The spokesperson hopes that today’s situation “does not happen again”, because in his opinion “there is not only a game at stake: there is the image of Spain and there is the image of the Community of Madrid.
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