More than a hundred thousand people took to the streets in Madrid against an amnesty for Catalan separatists. Prime Minister Sánchez was met with massive hostility. There are also doubts about his plans in the EU.
Once again, well over a hundred thousand people demonstrated in the Spanish capital Madrid against the planned amnesty for Catalan separatists and other concessions. The re-elected Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had promised this in return for the support of two Catalan separatist parties.
Banners read “Sánchez in prison”, “Sánchez traitor” and “Pedro Sánchez, the Judas of the 21st century”, as shown on public TV channel RTVE. Just last Sunday, hundreds of thousands protested against Sánchez and the amnesty at nationwide rallies.
The organizers of the rally in Madrid, several dozen civil society associations, spoke of a million participants, while the government representation in the capital estimated the number at 170,000. The motto of the demonstration was “Not in my name: neither amnesty nor self-determination. For freedom, unity and equality”.
Sharp criticism from the opposition
The head of the largest opposition party PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and the leader of the ultra-right Vox, Santiago Abascal, also called for the demonstration. Although the PP emerged from the election on July 23 as the strongest force, Feijóo did not get a parliamentary majority. This was also due to his intention to form a coalition with Vox.
Feijóo reiterated on the sidelines of the rally that Sánchez had deceived voters by ruling out an amnesty before the election. The PP is calling for a new election. Abascal once again accused the socialist of wanting to establish a dictatorship.
There are also doubts about the legality of an amnesty in the EU. According to the European People’s Party (EPP), the European Parliament will next week debate the question of whether the amnesty endangers the independence of the Spanish judiciary.
Thousands of people in front of party headquarters
Prime Minister Sánchez is committed to defusing the Catalan conflict through dialogue and compromise. Patxi López, spokesman for the Socialists in Parliament, accused the opposition of not actually protesting against the amnesty so much as because they suffered a defeat in the July election that they did not want to accept.
The night before, several thousand people demonstrated again in front of the party headquarters of Sánchez’s socialist PSOE in Madrid. Among other things, they sang the song “Cara al Sol”, the party anthem of the fascist-oriented Falange movement of the dictator Francisco Franco, who died in 1975. It was the 15th night in a row of sometimes violent demonstrations in front of the party headquarters.