President of the regional government of Madrid Isabel Díaz Ayuso ordered the closure of the Sol metro station on Friday in order to carry out " ... urgent cleaning and safety work".
She said that "occupational health and safety bodies and trade unions" had requested the measure due to the reportedly unsanitary conditions at the station, such as "the accumulation of urine, faeces and other organic waste in the ventilation shafts".
Ayuso accused the people who have been camping outside the station as a sign of protest against evictions and housing access difficulties since 26 September of contaminating the area.
Their prolonged stay in one of Madrids most iconic squares is also causing, as Ayuso said, "the smell to begin to permeate the metro exits and the ventilation shafts". As another reason for closing one of the city's busiest metro stations, Ayuso said that violence and vandalism are a recurring problem in the square.
"People are afraid to go shopping in that sort of atmosphere," she said on Friday. Ayuso said that the camp "hinders the passage of ambulances, leads to attacks on journalists and has turned the area into a lawless free-for-all".
In a letter to the government delegation in Madrid, regional minister of housing, transport and infrastructure Jorge Rodrigo highlighted the station's current condition and that "bacterial decomposition and a lack of ventilation generates a complex mixture of gases". "We are dealing with highly toxic and pneumotoxic gases," Rodrigo said.
Ayuso pointed to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez as "the main cause of the problem": "What is happening in Madrid is because of Pedro Sánchez." She accused him of keeping Madrid "in chaos, gridlocked and uncomfortable, because he cannot bear to see us doing well".