It is difficult to associate the name of Javier Ortega Smith with something other than controversy. The councilor of the Madrid City Council, deputy of Congress and vice president of Vox is usually in the spotlight for his rudeness to other politicians, his incursions into the waters of other countries – he has an arrest warrant in Gibraltar -, his defense of the Falangist José Antonio Primo de Rivera or his attacks on victims of the dictatorship such as the Thirteen Roses. However, in recent months, Ortega Smith has been noted on several occasions for his outbursts of anger.
The last and clearest occurred this Friday, in the plenary session of the Madrid City Council. The Vox councilor was in the speakers’ gallery and, after getting off and walking towards his seat, he went towards the leader of Más Madrid Eduardo Rubiño. The vice president of Vox, in a quite aggressive attitudehe used a folder he was carrying in his hand to hit a water bottle and throw it in the direction of Rubiño. Far from recanting, Ortega Smith defended the aggression as a defense to the victims of terrorism.
“All my respect to the victims of terrorism. None to those who make fun of them,” he published on the social network and EH Bildu to hold a motion of censure in the Pamplona City Council. The mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez Almeidahas asked for his resignation, but the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascalhas denied that there was any aggression.
The confrontation with the police
It is not necessary to go back very far in time to find another tense situation starring Ortega Smith. In mid-November, when thousands of protesters had been demonstrating every night for two weeks in front of the PSOE headquarters on Madrid’s Calle de Ferraz, the Vox leader decided to join the mobilization. Although not with the intention of calming things down.
Despite the violence that many far-right radicals had carried out in previous days, Ortega Smith confronted the head of the police operation. He first showed her his national deputy credential and then warned her that he was there so that the Police “do not exceed your duties“and prevent”abuses of authority” of the riot police. The next day, the police unions denounced their “threatening tone“.
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In April, Ortega Smith starred in another scene of cockiness and bravado in which he threatened a person who was squatting in a house. With an eye on the regional elections, held on May 28the leader of Vox wanted to highlight his party’s fight against squatting and appeared in a building in the Carabanchel district in which there was a squatted property. “On May 28, I come here with the municipal police and you are going to look for a home and pay for it. You are squatting in a home that is not yours,” he snapped at a man who was looking out from a balcony. “Of course,” he replied, something that Ortega Smith did not like. “How of course? How of course? I’ll go up and explain it to you“He threatened.
A few days later, the councilor and deputy changed victims and scolded several manteros in the Buen Retiro park, in Madrid.