Congress will be armored with 1,600 police officers for Sánchez's investiture that starts this Wednesday

The Congress of Deputies will be protected from this Wednesday with 1,600 agents of the National Police, most of them from citizen security of the Police Intervention Units (UIP), on the occasion of the investiture session of Pedro Sánchez as President of the Government, which is held at a time of tension due to the concentrations at the PSOE headquarters in Ferraz and other points in protest against the amnesty law that benefits those involved in the 'procés'.

As police sources have told Europa Press, the security detail around Congress will mainly consist of "between 1,300 and 1,400 citizen security agents." The Ministry of the Interior has raised the number to 1,600 personnel, including information, underground specialists or canine guides, among others.

The device was closed this Tuesday, 24 hours before the plenary session began and after the president of the Lower House, Francina Armengol, announced this Monday the date of the investiture, coinciding with the registration of the amnesty law proposal for part of the PSOE.

Since this Monday, there have already been controls and pedestrian access restrictions on Carrera de San Jerónimo, at Cedaceros Street.

In addition, there are fences around Congress, which is expected to be completely surrounded when Sánchez's investiture session begins. These days ago, specific protests have been held next to the Chamber, with some attempts at camping aborted by the Police.

The acting head of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, also met this Tuesday in Madrid with agents from the Police Intervention Units (UIP), those known as 'riot police'. "You have the support and gratitude of the entire society," he told them, as reported by the Ministry on its account on the social network X.

Sources from the Ministry of the Interior add that the device that will finally be deployed will be "similar" to that of other investitures, with the exception that daily protests have now been taking place for more than ten days in another part of Madrid, on Ferraz Street where it is located. the headquarters of the PSOE and where some disturbances have occurred due to the confrontation between far-right ultras and UIP agents.

These sources recall that at Mariano Rajoy's investiture in October 2016, around a thousand agents known as 'riot police' were deployed. Then thousands of people supported the "Surround the Congress" demonstration called by the 25-S Coordinator in protest against what they described as the "illegitimate investiture" of the president of the PP.

The security device for the recent meeting of the European Council in Granada required the support of more than 5,400 agents, including 3,670 from the National Police and 1,382 Civil Guard agents, according to the aforementioned sources.

They also point out that a football match declared high risk, with the presence of rival fans from other countries, can mobilize more than 1,300 police officers. An exceptional case was the final of the Copa Libertadores in December 2018, which required the mobilization of more than 2,000 national police officers out of a total force made up of 4,000 troops.

The figure is very far from the device announced as "historic" of the NATO summit, held in Madrid in June 2022, and in which more than 9,000 agents were mobilized in the capital in a context of tension due to the war in Ukraine and with the presence of international leaders such as the president of the United States, Joe Biden.

The elections are also days with the maximum number of Security Forces troops mobilized to prevent incidents. The municipal elections of May 28, 2023 had 99,000 agents, adding to regional bodies and municipal police, a figure very similar to the general elections of July 23, when there were 90,000 troops.