“Go away Sanchez! It is behind this slogan that tens of thousands of supporters of the far-right Vox party demonstrated this Sunday in several cities in Spain to protest against the left-wing government of Pedro Sánchez, a government “of treason, insecurity and ruin” according to them. In Madrid, around 25,000 people, according to the police, had gathered in Colon Square, chosen for the huge Spanish flag that floats there. “We have a government that rules against people, that lowers prison sentences for crimes, that disarms the police,” Vox president Santiago Abascal said during his speech.
The political leader was referring to the forthcoming abolition of the sedition offense, for which nine Catalan separatist leaders had been convicted for their role in the 2017 secession attempt of their region, in the northeast of the country. The modification of the Penal Code, which should take place by the end of the year, will encourage, according to the right-wing and far-right opposition, new attempts at secession in Catalonia, insofar as these would then be punished much less severely.
A law against sexual violence is controversial
Santiago Abascal also spoke of a “doubling of sexual assaults since Sánchez came to power and a crazy minister who makes a law with the blessing of the government, the political left and the media so that in the end they can get out ( prison) of rapists and pedophiles. He was referring to the flagship law called “only a yes is a yes” against sexual violence, which came into force in October, which generally toughened the arsenal against rape, but lowered the penalties for other types. of sexual violence. A modification which had the perverse effect of getting some convicts out of prison by reducing their sentences.
“We are governed by separatist people, by people who don’t want to be Spanish, that’s why I’m here,” protested Cesar Peinado, a 65-year-old former truck driver who came to demonstrate, believing that power “buys vote”. “We are tired of this government, of the laws it comes out with, without the necessary majority, which get terrorists out of prison and release rapists,” explained María Dolores López, a 58-year-old secretary.