Rayo fans protest the presence of VOX in the box

Rayo fans mobilized this Tuesday and attended the protest organized by the ADRV Platform, which includes most of the franjirrojas clubs, in the vicinity of the Vallecas stadium. About a hundred people, among followers of the team and neighbors of the neighborhood, attended this meeting to show their rejection of the decision of the board – led by Raúl Martín Presa – to have the presence of Santiago Abascal, president of VOX, and Rocío Monasterio, candidate for the presidency of the Community of Madrid, in the box during Monday's game against Albacete.

The call had the motto 'Let's disinfect our stadium, let's clean our box'. Hence they appeared about 50 fans – dressed in yellow overalls, brooms and mops – forming the cleaning squad and carrying a banner with the face of the president and the phrase: 'Vallekas is no place for fascists or useful fools'. Already in front of the changing room door and surrounded by more people they sang chants like “Here are the anti-fascists”, “We are the Ray, we are the Ray” or “Nazis no”. A poster was also pasted with a photograph taken yesterday, in which Presa posed next to Abascal and Monastery, and where it read: 'For our revolutionary Ray, all the faces outside my neighborhood'.

The event closed with the reading of a statement: “Wilfred went down in the history of our club for being a symbol of the fight against racism, for being the flag that Rayo fans have waved for decades to liberate our stadium and all the others from the scourge of racism, xenophobia, fascism, machismo and homophobia. It has been a roadblock in the fight against all this in the world of football. A symbol, just like the neighborhood that gives it its name. Unfortunately he also has reasons for shame. Right here in 1939, it was a concentration camp. Today, that same shadow, that of fascism, threatens to stink our life and freedom. Yesterday Presa, a confessed enemy of Rayism for a decade, decided to be the useful fool who would allow VOX to use our stadium as a platform from which to insult and criminalize Vallecas. He is the pawn of those who despise what this team and this neighborhood represents. For his management, his absolute uprooting, his personal war with the fans and for sitting in our box those who despise who we are, we must join hands. For a Rayo from Vallecas and the Vallecanos“.

For his part, the president of the entity, Raúl Martín Presa, justified the presence of both politicians in statements to the Agency EFE: “They called saying they wanted to come and showing interest. I thought it was good because Rayo is a team open to everyone and Vallecas is a neighborhood that welcomes all people, educated and peaceful“.