Spain
Around 40,000 people gather at a rally in Madrid ahead of the vote on the election results over a possible pardon for activists
At least 40,000 people gathered in Madrid on Sunday to protest against a possible amnesty for people who took part in a failed Catalan independence bid six years ago that plunged Spain into its worst political crisis in decades.
The controversial issue of an amnesty arose after the inconclusive parliamentary elections in July. The conservative People’s Party (PP) took first place, defeating the ruling Socialist Workers’ Party of Spain (PSOE), but falling well short of an overall majority.
Despite its victory, the PP, led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has little chance of securing the necessary parliamentary support to form a new government in a congressional vote this week.
Instead, the numbers favor the PSOE, led by incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. But to have a chance of forming a new government, Sánchez must secure the support of the hardline Catalan Independence Party led by former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont. Puigdemont fled Spain six years ago to avoid arrest for his role in masterminding the unilateral and illegal push for independence.
Puigdemont has insisted that his support is conditional on granting an amnesty to him and hundreds of other Catalans wanted by the Spanish court for their role in the attempted secession.
Sánchez – who two years ago pardoned nine Catalan independence leaders convicted of secessionist charges – has refused to rule anything out. But the PP has used the opportunity of an amnesty to rally its supporters and portray the PSOE leader as a cowardly man, beholden to Catalan separatists and desperate to stay in office.
The PP, which organized Sunday’s rally, put the number of participants at 60,000, while the central government delegation in Madrid said it had attracted 40,000 people.
In his address to the crowd, Feijóo accused Sánchez of “a complete lack of moral and political integrity” and a denigration of Spanish democracy.
Feijóo said: “The left sees pardons as coexistence, an amnesty as normalization and losing as winning. “Don’t call us stupid Spaniards, because we are not.” If voters were forced to hold a repeat election early next year, Sánchez bears responsibility, he said.
Referring to this week’s congressional vote, Feijóo said: “I will defend that Spain is a democracy of free and equal people, even if the price is not to be prime minister.” He added: “Either I become prime minister.” Or I won’t, but what remains is a free, equal and dignified Spain. Long live Spain.”
Sánchez, who criticized the PP earlier this week for its “apocalyptic prophecies,” was careful to avoid any explicit mention of an amnesty.
In his speech in Catalonia on Sunday, the incumbent prime minister stressed his commitment to equality, adding that all the social, economic and environmental progress his government has made would be jeopardized by a PP government that relies on the support of the far right The Vox party is supposed to govern Spain.
The PP, which Vox once rejected as a “party of fear, anger, resentment and revenge,” has rejected its objections and formed a number of municipal and regional coalitions with the party in recent years.
Sánchez said on Sunday: “If there is an equality that is breaking, it is in danger, it is the equality between men and women that is in danger because of the agreements between PP and Vox.”
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