[1/4]A general view of Cibeles Square as people take part in a protest after Spanish Socialists reached an agreement with the Catalan separatist party Junts on support for the government, which includes amnesties for people, on November 18 in Madrid, Spain were involved in Catalonia’s failed bid for independence in 2017. … Acquire license rights Read more
MADRID, Nov 18 (Portal) – About 170,000 people marched through Madrid on Saturday in the largest protest yet against an amnesty law passed by Spanish Socialists over Catalonia’s separatist efforts to form a government in 2017.
The demonstration, the latest in a series of protests in cities across the country against the amnesty, came two days after Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez won a four-year term, supported by Catalan and Basque nationalist parties in return for his endorsement the law was supported.
Many demonstrators waved Spanish flags and held signs reading “Sanchez traitor” and “Don’t sell Spain.” They demonstrated against the law, which, according to four judicial associations, opposition parties and business leaders, threatens the rule of law and the separation of powers.
The authorities put the number of demonstrators at 170,000.
Alberto Nunez Feijoo, leader of the opposition conservative People’s Party, and Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party, also took part in the march organized by civil groups.
After the rally, scores of demonstrators walked along the side of the road toward Moncloa Palace, the prime minister’s residence in Madrid.
The amnesty applies to about 400 people involved in the independence drive that came to a head in 2017, including separatists but also police officers involved in clashes with activists.
The independence referendum was declared illegal by the courts and led to Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.
According to Spain’s CSIC Research Council, the amnesty will be the largest in Spain since the blanket amnesty for crimes during Francisco Franco’s dictatorship in 1977 and the first amnesty law passed in the European Union since 1991.
Sánchez, who won a parliamentary vote to form a new government on Thursday with 179 votes in favor and 171 against, defended the law and said an amnesty would help defuse tensions in Catalonia.
Since the deal was announced, demonstrators, including neo-Nazi groups, have demonstrated outside the Socialists’ headquarters in Madrid for 15 consecutive nights. There were clashes with police, resulting in officers and demonstrators being injured, but overall the protests were peaceful.
In a Metroscopia poll in mid-September, around 70% of respondents – 59% of them socialist supporters – said they were against the idea of an amnesty.
Reporting by Graham Keeley; Additional reporting by Susana Vera, Raul Cadenas, Silvio Castellanos; Editing by Clelia Oziel and Mike Harrison
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