Madrid education strike turnout disputed as students seek resignations over UCM police charges

Turnout figures diverge on the third day

The indefinite strike in Madrid's public education system entered its third day on Friday, 16 October 2026. The strike committee said around 60% of staff had joined, while the regional government put participation at 26.7%, which it said was 5.5 points below Thursday. Thursday's figures are also contested: the unions gave 62% in one report and 72% in another, the latter attributed to statements made to Efe. The Consejería de Educación said 32.2% of staff in schools and institutes had struck on Thursday and that the day was running normally. The teachers' union CSIF, which runs a parallel strike, calculated that 45% of its staff joined, almost 31,000 teachers a day.

Rally, march and demands

On Thursday, 15 October, thousands of teachers formed a human chain around the regional Education department in Madrid. The protest continued to Cibeles and the Paseo de la Castellana, where marchers blocked traffic, and the Government Delegation in Madrid counted about 10,000 people at the noon gathering. The strikers want a maximum of 17 weekly teaching periods in secondary and vocational training and 22 in primary, with tutoring and department hours counted toward the total. They also seek class sizes of 13 in infant, 15 in primary, 20 in secondary, 23 in baccalaureate and 15 in vocational training, plus a 600 euro monthly increase in the regional general teaching supplement.

Police charges at the Complutense campus

Student groups demanded on Friday, 16 October that the Government delegate in Madrid, Francisco Martín, and the rector of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), Joaquín Goyache, resign unless there are consequences for what they call a police assault. The police charges took place on Wednesday, 14 October, the first day of the strike, at the Ciudad Universitaria campus. Students said the charges left ten people injured, two of them seriously, and five detained. They described the target as an informational picket of workers and students exercising their right to strike, and held Martín responsible for the order or for failing to control the operation. Goyache, they said, must authorise police entry onto campus, and they demand explanations, accountability and the release without charges of those arrested. Student spokespeople rejected the argument used by police and the UCM that the open spaces between faculties do not count as a campus.

Regional government stands by its claims

Regional Education councillor Mercedes Zarzalejo showed an email on Wednesday, 14 October, from a school in Villarejo de Salvanés that quoted a Sindicato de Estudiantes motto about halting the education system completely. She attributed the phrase to the school's management, accused it of encouraging disruption on the streets, and announced a disciplinary file against its director. LaSexta and eldiario.es report that the email actually came from Santa Elena, a privately run, publicly funded Catholic school, not from the public Nuestra Señora de la Victoria, whose Instagram account then began receiving hate messages. LaSexta called the episode a hoax spread by the team of Isabel Díaz Ayuso. On Friday, government spokesperson Miguel Ángel García Martín declined to say whether the file would go ahead or whether he considered the accusations and threats serious. He said the aim of the strike was very clear.

It has been established that this is an absolutely political strike.

Early childhood educators and no talks

Separately, educators in the first cycle of Infantil have been on indefinite strike in Madrid since 6 April. On Thursday, 15 October, they used the presence of the education councillor at an event to call for negotiations, arguing that lower class ratios and better working conditions are needed for educators who earn the minimum wage. The councillor said she would not adopt any measures in response to the demands, and again called the strike political and revolutionary. The strike committee has continued its open assembly in El Retiro and its afternoon march.