Alcaldes, langostas y negros en el barrio de la Comadre. Los alcaldes de barrio y la Superintendencia General de Policía en Madrid (1823-1833)

The Superintendencia General de Policia, created in 1824 during the second absolutist restauration, disturbed the traditional balance of powers between institutions in Madrid. The new police burst into a pre-ordered arena, regulated by tribunals as the Sala de Alcaldes and the Corregimiento, as well as popular “self-regulation”. Resistance against the police was embedded in royalist and counterrevolutionary political discourses. This paper analyses the violent anti-police statements of the alcalde de barrio Urbano García through a micro-historical approach to the working-class neighbourhood of La Comadre (Lavapiés)