The bridge dividing the Puente de Vallecas neighbourhood from the rest of Madrid looks like a proper frontier.
Passports and visas aren’t required, but police stand on both sides to check who comes and who goes.
Under Madrid’s current lockdown, only essential workers are allowed to leave for work. Puente de Vallecas is one of 37 “high transmission zones” of COVID-19 in the Madrid region that’s facing a two-week-long lockdown.
On the inside, locals say the restrictions are useless and make them feel like second-class citizens.
“These measures are discriminating. We the people of the South go to serve drinks, clean the houses and work in the industry of the North, so the virus is not going to stop here,”said Mara Jos Berral. from the Platform for the Defence of Public Health. “What do they want us to do, to leave the virus at home?”
The neighbourhood is plagued by overcrowded flats and lots of economic instability. Experts say this creates perfect conditions rife for transmission.
Watch Jaime’s report in the player at the top.