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Spanish health minister Salvador Illa and other leading Spanish politicians have attended a huge party of the Madrid elite. A hundred and fifty guests were present for an awards ceremony in Madrid, violating all the regulations that the Spanish health authorities have imposed on the public, starting with the ban on gatherings of more than six people. The occasion was the fifth birthday of Pedro J. Ramírez's digital newspaper El Español and, despite coinciding with one of the worst moments in the pandemic in Spain - and the second night of curfew - neither the awards ceremony nor the party were cancelled, and nor did 150 VIP guests, including senior PSOE, PP and Cs politicians, see fit to decline the invitation.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Translation:
"Very poor behaviour, these young people with their booze parties on the street"— Gabriel Rufián (ERC party MP)

"So was or wasn't Ciudadanos leader Inés Arrimadas at the event? I'm not clear about it."— Yeyo de Bote

salvador illa fetsa el español GTRES

pedro j ramirez pablo xcasado el espa´ñol GTRES

Newspaper director Pedro J. Ramírez (right), PP leader Pablo Casado (centre) and Spanish health minister Salvador Illa (centre in top photo) at  the El Español party | GTRES

"The police came to fine those at a massive party, with guests not wearing masks, in a Madrid casino. Aah no, it's the Madrid mayor, the Spanish health minister and other buddies yesterday - at the same time as more than 200 deaths were reported in hospitals in Spain."— Marighby 

The list of VIPs present included important figures in all the Spanish unionist parties except Vox: there were Socialists (PSOE) such as the defence, justice and health ministers (Robles, Campo and Illa) and the president of Castilla La Mancha, García-Page. From the Popular Party (PP) the entire top brass turned up: leader Pablo Casado, Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida and regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the Murcia regional president Fernando López, and other senior PP members Teo García Egea, Cuca Gamarra and Ana Pastor. From Ciudadanos (Cs), leader Inés Arrimadas, along with Edmundo Bal and Begoña Villacís. Also present at the event, Spain's chief of defence staff, General Miguel Ángel Villarroya, Spain's attorney general Dolores Delgado, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez and other well-known business figures.

On social media, there was no shortage of disgusted reaction to the event - from Catalonia as from elsewhere:

"The last thing we needed was to see the Madrid elite abiding by the same rules that everyone else does"— Quim Torra i Pla (president of Catalonia) 

"The expression "setting an example" is one they don't use much."— Lluís Llach (musician)

"You can't go out at night. They close you in at the weekend. You only go out to work. Don't even think about complaining because they will call you a 'denier'. Meanwhile, the mafia that misgoverns and misinforms us, is having its parties. We can't accept this."— Albano-Dante Fachín (journalist)

"They demand maximum group size of six for dinners and to finish before 10pm. But the Spanish political and business elite gather for a dinner of more than 100 people and at times even without masks. It must be that "the virus does not understand classes" as they say."— Albert Botran Pahissa (CUP party MP)

"Why the hell do people need to violate the State of Alarm to suck up to Pedro J.? A portrait of the elites of Madrid above all. And it annoys me because there are people I appreciate but they have f*cked up badly..." — Elisa Beni (journalist)

A scandal in Madrid that demands explanations, by all those who were present and by the person who invited them. Cynicism in the Madrid elite.