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Armengol Removed a PP Lawmaker from the Plenary After She Displayed Pepper Spray in Congress
Ana Vázquez showed the aerosol during a question to Fernando Grande-Marlaska about the situation in Ceuta. The episode sparked a heated dispute in the chamber and backing from the Popular bench for the lawmaker.
The Government control session in the Congress of Deputies ended this Wednesday with a heated exchange between the chamber’s president, Francina Armengol, and PP lawmaker Ana Vázquez, after the parliamentarian displayed a pepper spray during an intervention directed at Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska about insecurity in Ceuta.
According to reports by ABC España and eldiario.es, Armengol interrupted the session and called Vázquez to order for showing what she described as a weapon inside the parliamentary chamber. The president cited Article 101 of the chamber’s rules, which provides for sanctions for carrying weapons in Congress, and asked her to leave the chamber and hand over the item at the police station.
According to both outlets, the lawmaker was called to order on two occasions and initially resisted leaving, while shouts, applause and reproaches multiplied from the PP and PSOE benches. She eventually left her seat accompanied by an ovation from her group. Both ABC España and eldiario.es noted that Alberto Núñez Feijóo remained seated and did not applaud.
ABC España reported that, on the way out, PP lawmakers shouted “shameless” at Armengol. In the hallways, Vázquez maintained that the president “does not know the rules,” demanded a correction and said the spray “is not a weapon” and that it was empty. She also said she was going to hand it over at the Congress police station.
eldiario.es added that Armengol did not formally expel her, but instead told her to get rid of the spray and return later. According to that outlet, the lawmaker left the chamber on her own before a possible third call to order, which would have enabled her expulsion from the rest of the plenary.
After the incident, the Congress presidency circulated, according to ABC España, the text of Article 5 of the Weapons Regulations, which includes self-defense sprays and devices that project gases or aerosols among the prohibited items, except in expressly authorized cases.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
