Far-right female activists attack feminists in Madrid on International Women's Day

Last week, Madrid authorities banned all rallies planned for March 8 due to COVID-19. The organizers challenged the decree in the High Court of Justice of Madrid, however the latter sided with the government. Two largest Spanish trade unions turned to the Constitutional Court to appeal the verdict, but lost too.

Despite this, a student union did hold a rally, which gathered over a hundred people and ended at central square of Puerta del Sol. The rally was peaceful: the participants sat down at the square and chanted calls for equal rights for men and women.

"Enough of repressions against women. We want them to be alive and free," they shouted.

In the meantime, several people at the square began to insult the activists. Two women sang the Falange Espanola anthem "Facing the Sun," and an altercation ensued. The women hit feminists several times, triggering a scuffle, according to the footage shown on the TV channel.

Separately, unknown people vandalized graffiti in Madrid that depicted female political activists and Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Prior to this, the far-right Vox party had long been pushing for removing the graffiti.

In the city of Alcala de Henares, vandals defaced graffiti featuring the founders of the national feminist.