Thousands of people protest in Madrid against the amnesty for Catalan independence activists

Thousands of people, around 45 thousand according to official sources and close to 70 thousand according to the organizers, gathered this Sunday in Madrid against the amnesty law for Catalan independence activists that is being processed by the Spanish Parliament.

Summoned by the conservative People’s Party (PP), the main opposition force in the Spainparticipants waved Spanish and Spanish flags European Unionwhile carrying posters reading, in Spanish and English, slogans such as ‘In the face of a weak government, a strong Spain’ or ‘There is no democracy without the rule of law’, shouting “No to amnesty”.

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The Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Spanish Parliament, plans to vote on the proposed amnesty law next Tuesday.for institutional, political and social normalization in Catalonia” presented by the socialist party PSOEwho governs Spain in coalition with the left-wing party To add.

The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijoo, gestures while speaking during a demonstration called by the Popular Party (PP), in Plaza de España, in Madrid, on January 28, 2024. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP) (OSCAR DEL POZO /)

The process will then continue in the Senate, where the PP has a majority and can delay the approval process before the proposal returns to Congress, where government partners would have sufficient parliamentary support.

During the concentration, the president of the PP Alberto Núñez Feijóowarned the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchesand its partners that their “bad arts“will not prevent”storm of indignity”.

Conservatives denounce that the amnesty, which would benefit those prosecuted for acts related since 2012 to the independence process in the Spanish region of Catalonia, is a transfer of the Executive for the independenceists to remain in power.

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In particular for Togetherparty of the former president of the Catalan Government Carles Puigdemont fled Spanish justice after the unilateral declaration of independence in 2017, whose votes are needed to approve the law.

Núñez Feijóo told the President of the Spanish Government and his “grouping of interests”who face most Spaniards with“dignity intact“that grows every day, well”Spain is not for sale”.

Former presidents of the Spanish Government participated in the event against this possible amnesty, which the opposition considers unconstitutional. Mariano Rajoy It is José Maria Aznarpresidents of regional governments and numerous mayors of the PP, the party that received the most votes in the May 2023 local and regional elections in Spain and in the July general elections, although it subsequently did not obtain sufficient parliamentary support to govern the country.

Source: Elcomercio