Thousands of people demonstrated in Madrid this Sunday following the call by the far-right party Vox against the amnesty proposal for Catalan separatists, which was announced on Saturday by current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
“Spain is not for sale” and “No to amnesty”, read the posters of the demonstrators who gathered this Sunday in the Plaza de Colón and shouted “Send Puigdemont to prison!”, referring to the former president of the Catalan government and leader of the 2017 self-determination effort.
On Saturday, in an intervention at the central committee of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), Pedro Sánchez defended the approval of an amnesty law in Catalonia, justifying it with the need to strengthen the reunification between Spain and Catalonia.
“In the name of Spain, in the interest of Spain, in defense of coexistence among Spaniards, today I defend the amnesty in Catalonia for the events that took place,” said the acting head of the Spanish government.
Marcos Carbonell, a 37-year-old engineer, was outraged this Sunday by Sánchez’s desire to ally with those who want to “put an end to Spain”.
“It’s a shame,” he told France Presse, adding that “not everything is good to stay in power.”
The formation of the new Spanish government involves negotiations with nationalist and independence parties, and demands from Catalan formations, which include amnesty for people involved in legal proceedings over the Catalan attempt at self-determination in 2017.
For Sánchez to return to power, he will need the support in parliament from the Catalan separatist parties ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia) and JxCat (Junts per Catalunya).
The amnesty proposal for hundreds of people involved in Catalonia’s 2017 attempt at self-determination, considered Spain’s worst political crisis in recent decades, was criticized by the right and the far right, as well as within the PSOE.
The incumbent prime minister, who has tried to calm tensions over the separatist movement since coming to power five years ago, has spoken out against amnesty in the past. In 2021, he pardoned Catalan separatists sentenced to prison for their role in the attempt at self-determination.
Sánchez needs the support of at least 176 of the 350 deputies to win the vote, scheduled for November 27. If this does not happen, Spain will automatically have to hold new elections, probably in mid-January.
Source: DN
