Yesterday, more than 100,000 people demonstrated again in the Spanish capital, Madrid, against the planned amnesty for Catalan separatists and other concessions. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, re-elected on Thursday, promised this in exchange for the support of two Catalan separatist parties.
The banners read “Sánchez in prison”, “Sánchez traitor” and “Pedro Sánchez, the Judas of the XXI”. Century”, as seen on the RTVE TV channel. Last Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people protested Sanchez and the amnesty in national rallies.
Different information about participants
The organizers of the rally in Madrid, several dozen civil society associations, spoke of one million participants, while the government representation in the capital estimated the number at 170 thousand. The motto of the demonstration was “Not in my name: neither amnesty nor self-determination. For freedom, unity and equality.”
The head of the largest opposition party, the PP, Alberto Nunez Feijó, and the leader of the right-wing populist Vox, Santiago Abascal, also called for the demonstration. Although the PP emerged as the strongest force in the July 23 elections, Feijoo was unable to secure a parliamentary majority. This was also due to his intention to form a coalition with Vox.
After the meeting in central Madrid ended, a few hundred people marched to the official residence of the head of government, temporarily blocking a highway. Additionally, around 3,000 protesters marched in front of Sanchez’s socialist PSOE headquarters. There had already been violent demonstrations by right-wing extremist participants over the previous 15 nights.