Madrid
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On Sunday the collapse will begin. The celebration of
NATO summit will alter the normality of Madrid. The fairgrounds Ifema, to the north of the city, which will host the meeting of the Atlantic Alliance; the Castellana promenade, where the many international delegations are housed; and the core almond will concentrate the bulk of the affections and blockages. The municipal spokesperson and delegate of the Security and Emergencies Area, Inmaculada Sanz, has been warning for days: “These are complex days for mobility, but Madrid is prepared to assume this historic summit,” she repeated this Thursday.
The council has already taken action. This same Thursday it has published in its Official Gazette (BOAM) the prohibition of installing containers, bags of waste and construction material in the streets in the problematic points.
Parking spaces next to hotels and other key environments will also be banned and reserved for the fifty or so delegations participating in the summit. And the EMT buses (Municipal Transport Company) will be free on July 28, 29 and 30 “to make it easier for people who have to move, although it is better not to move in the city,” Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida reported.
Paseo de la Castellana will be the epicenter of the blockade. “It will be practically cut off and blocked,” said Almeida. The first affections will be this same Sunday, due to the call of the anti-NATO demonstration. “Possibly the most complicated day is the 29th,” said the municipal spokeswoman. The rest of the days, the movement of the delegations will saturate the Castellana, the Paseo del Prado and other cross roads. “The central axis of the Castellana is going to be completely closed at times,” she warned.
Unprecedented Deployment
The colossal deployment orchestrated in the Palacio de Cibeles, in coordination with the Ministry of the Interior, includes “at least” 2,000 municipal troops (mobility agents, firefighters, Samur-PC…), of which 1,200 will be police. They will be in charge of accompanying the processions and external security in the hotels. “Not only in hotels,” Sanz specified; also in the Royal Palace, in the Prado Museum. Are the three safety ringsin which the National Police will also participate, which will impose restrictions in a radius of 3 kilometers around Ifema, on Paseo de la Castellana and its surroundings and in the heart of the city.
The Madrid City Council recommends not traveling during these critical days and, if you do, on public transport. Y telework. The consistory has drawn up an instruction so that its more than 7,000 workers take advantage of teleworking. In terms of transport, the Community has already announced a greater frequency of buses and trains, as well as the reinforcement of Metro line 8. The consistory will increase the passage of some EMT lines, such as 104, and there will be a specific shuttle from Mar de Cristal to Ifema. “It is going to be necessary to make modifications to the routes, rather than cuts”, explained Sanz, “in the early hours of the morning and the last hours of the afternoon, mobility on the surface will be more complicated.”
Explained the security plan, in the press conference after the Governing Board there was one last question.
“Is the city going to be decked out?”
—Of course, yes, welcoming all the leaders, with the colors of Europe.
www.abc.es
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism