Daniel Viondi, socialist councilor in the Madrid City Council, has announced on social networks that he will resign from his minutes in the next few hours after having been expelled from the plenary session this Thursday after slapping the Madrid mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, in the face.
In a brief statement, Viondi wrote that "I have informed my party that in the next few hours I will leave my position as a councilor" after having requested "public apologies and tried personally but it has not been possible." An hour earlier, the councilor himself publicly apologized to Almeida "for what happened" and assured that it was "a mistake" that he regrets "very much."
The events have occurred in the following way. When Viondi came down from the lectern after his second speaking turn, he approached Almeida's seat and slapped him in the face several times, which led the Madrid mayor to angrily reproach the gesture and demand that the socialist spokesperson, Reyes, Maroto, to take action on the matter, remembering that Viondi already “threatened” a deputy in the Madrid Assembly.
At the end of his speech, Viondi wanted to give Almeida an institutional declaration that the San Fernando de Henares City Council approved, and it was after bringing the paper to his table that he slapped the councilor on the face several times.
Immediately afterwards, Almeida spoke: “An event has occurred that has never occurred in this plenary session, and that is that one councilor touched another in a threatening tone like Mr. Viondi touched my face three times. And above all, Mr. Viondi already threatened a deputy in the Madrid Assembly that he was going to rip off his head,” he exclaimed.
“You are violent in plenary sessions, Mr. Viondi, and I am not going to allow it. Don't ever touch my face again. Never. And Mrs. (Reyes) Maroto, I hope you take action, because you can never touch your face like he has done three times,” he added, before abruptly lowering the microphone.
Viondi, now in his seat, has continued speaking without being able to speak and with the microphone turned off, which is why he has been questioned by the president of the plenary session on several occasions. He called him to order three times until he asked him to leave the plenary hall.
Minutes later, Viondi's first apology arrived on social media. Then, his next message was the announcement of his resignation from his position as councilor.
For her part, the spokesperson for the PSOE, Reyes Maroto, has also joined in the apologies, in her case during the plenary session, where she took the floor. "We cannot agree more with the utmost respect for this chamber and with respect for the word of the councilors of this municipal corporation," he stressed.
In the ranks of the Popular Party, its president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has assured on social networks that José Luis Martínez-Almeida has "the entire PP" with him. "A big hug, Mayor," concluded the 'popular' leader.
