MADRID—Spain’s Socialist-led government invoked a state of emergency on Friday to reimpose a partial lockdown for several million people in and around Madrid, one of Europe’s worst COVID-19 hotspots, after a court had struck down the measures.
The move, with immediate effect, escalated a standoff between Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government and the conservative-led Madrid regional chief who calls the curbs illegal, excessive, and disastrous for the economy.