Spanish police broke a protest as it attempted to march on the nation’s transportation ministry after the second major rail disaster this year, which has killed at least 69 people.

A protest calling on Spain’s transportation minister to resign over alleged chronic mismanagement called by a workers’ union, student groups, and what was described as “far right” Falangist groups ended in a police baton charge on Wednesday night. The protest, which saw chants against the transport minister including “Oscar Puente, serial killer” was a no-notice call to march after a major rail crash on Wednesday morning.

Emergency services combing through the wreckage of two high-speed trains revised the death toll up to 69 overnight, and said while they still hadn’t moved the final carriages, they were not optimistic about finding further passengers, although many remain missing. Dozens remain in hospital, and some in critical condition from the over 550 passengers from the two trains at the time of the allision.

Rail travel in Europe generally enjoys a reputation for safety, but Wednesday’s crash is the second incident of one train hitting a second, stationary train on the same track from Madrid to Seville this year. In January, 46 people were killed when a train derailed, meaning it blocked the path of a second train travelling at speed.

Allegations that these accidents are happening because the state-owned railways are being chronically underfunded by a government diverting taxpayers’ money to more fashionable purposes has led to pointed criticism and a protest by right-wing anti-government activists in Madrid last night. Spanish publisher El Confidencial reports several hundred protesters, including those professing Falangist beliefs — a Spanish Catholic nationalist ideology of the 1930s whose supporters are generally sympathetic to the former Spanish fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco — marched to the transportation ministry where they were met by a significant police deployment.

The report states slogans including “no more death on our tracks”; “It wasn’t an accident , they were murdered”; and “Óscar Puente, minister of death” were chanted outside the ministry, and that speeches attacked both Puente’s record in government, and the wider perceived failures of Spain’s socialist led state.

Police used tear gas and pepper spray, and it is reported this heavy-handed approach prompted attendees of the anti-railway-crash protest to complain they were being handled roughly compared to left-wing protests in the same city. El Confidencial cites a conversation as tear gas rained down between two protesters, allegedly with one asking the other “Why are they doing this to us, man? … We haven’t done anything wrong”.

TOPSHOT – Emergency services are seen at the site of a train collision between a high speed Renfe AVE train and Iryo train around 150kms south of Madrid between Urda and Los Yebenes in the province of Toledo, on October 28, 2026. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP via Getty Images)

After two hours the protest attempted to march on the ministry building itself, bringing them into direct contact with police reports Spanish wires service EFE, triggering a baton charge which broke up and ended the march.

Outside the Falangist march, there has been broader criticism of the government’s management of the national rail system and its attempt to shift the blame after yet another deadly rail disaster. Major Spanish newspaper ABC noted the government immediately blamed “human error” for the allision, while pointing out the track control systems on that line has long been known to be insufficient.

The report stated the signalling system on the Madrid to Seville line is known to be “obsolete” and is technology dating to the 1970s. The government announced its intent to update the system to the modern European standard in 2020 and awarded a contract for the work in 2021.

The project was supposed to have been completed in 2026, but is said to have been delayed. Citing railway company insiders, the report states the upper management of Spain’s state railway company has been “colonised” by political appointees and allies of the ruling socialist government who, concerningly, are called on to make major decisions despite having no railway operating experience.

Indeed, ABC’s leader on Thursday lashes out at socialist transport minister Puente, who is accused of giving more attention to his “aggression on social media” than running his department, and says the current government has now been “twice responsible” for massive fatal train crashes.

The paper said in its editorial:

Pedro Sánchez is right when he says that “it is unacceptable that two high-speed rail accidents have occurred in the same year.” This is unacceptable because they point to the double responsibility of his government for its blatant incompetence in managing infrastructure, which borders on the disastrous. It is unacceptable that warnings about track maintenance failures were ignored…

…It is unacceptable that Minister Puente would offer explanations that downplay the original technical failure and label as “inexplicable”… It is worth recalling, quite pertinently, that similar explanations were rushed after the Adamuz accident; it was claimed that the accident was inexplicable after the “complete renovation” of the track—which we later learned was not so simple.

On Thursday, the head of the Spanish train drivers’ union criticised the continued use of outdated signalling systems which “repeatedly fail”, calling for them to be urgently replaced.

Spanish Socialist Party Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez made an appearance with Spanish Civil Defence workers on Thursday morning and vowed the government was going to strengthen rail safety. The Spanish snap election will take place a month from today, on November 29th.