Madrid, Nov. 12, (dpa/GNA) – More than a hundred thousand people demonstrated against the planned amnesty for Catalan separatists at nationwide demonstrations held in Spain on Sunday.
The amnesty was promised by caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to two Catalan separatist parties in order to secure support for another four-year term in office, which is likely to be confirmed in the coming days.
Participants at the largest rally in Madrid carried signs reading “No to amnesty, yes to the constitution” and “Sánchez traitor.”
Representatives of the largest opposition party, the conservative People’s Party (PP), warned democracy in Spain was under threat.
PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said he expected protests to continue until a new election was called.
The organizers put the number of participants in Madrid alone at 500,000, while the government spoke of 80,000. No figures were initially available for the country as a whole.
Spain went to the polls in July. Pressure had been growing on Sánchez, of the Socialist Party (PSOE), who must form a new government by November 27, otherwise snap elections would have to be held on January 14.
Spanish Conservatives are sceptical about making concessions to the separatists, while the right-wing populist Vox party wants to ban such parties outright.
Some PSOE voters are also angry because during the campaign Sánchez had ruled out not only a referendum on Catalonia’s secession from Spain, as in 2017, but also an amnesty for separatists.
But once it became clear after the July 23 election that he could only govern with the help of separatist parties, he became open to an amnesty.
Sánchez argues he is focusing on defusing the Catalonia conflict through dialogue and compromise.
The People’s Party had called for the rallies in the capitals of all provinces in the country on Sunday. Vox and the small centre-liberal Ciudadanos party joined in.
Although Feijóo received the most votes in the July election, he was unable to forge a majority in parliament because parties other than his PP did not want to join an alliance that would have included Vox.
Catalonia has long presented problems for the central government in Madrid.
A referendum by Catalonia’s regional government on secession from Spain took place on October 1, 2017, but without the blessing of the central government in Madrid. Spanish police in some cases used force to prevent ballots being cast. The ‘yes’ vote won, but Spain’s Constitutional Court declared the referendum illegal.
Catalonia, a wealthy region of north-eastern Spain, was then temporarily put under direct rule of Madrid. Regional leader Carles Puigdemont and some of his comrades-in-arms then fled abroad. Other separatists were sentenced to long prison terms, but were pardoned in 2021.
GNA