Tuesday evening’s demonstrations in Madrid against the amnesty of Catalan independence activists ended with 39 injuries, including 29 police officers, and the arrest of six people, Spanish authorities said on Wednesday.
Thousands of people returned to demonstrate in Madrid and other Spanish cities on Tuesday against the amnesty of independents, with the protest in the capital ending with another police intervention to disperse the crowd.
The early evening rallies in front of the headquarters of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), currently in power in Spain, are called daily on social media by far-right groups and are supported by Vox, the third political force in parliament. .
Amid shouts and posters with slogans against the PSOE and the party’s leader, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, demonstrators have also shouted cheers at dictator Francisco Franco and displayed Spanish flags from the dictatorship period.
According to emergency medical services, 39 people with injuries, including 29 police officers, were treated near the PSOE national headquarters on Ferraz Street in Madrid on Tuesday.
Four of the injured were taken to hospital and police officers were hit by thrown objects.
Six people, on the other hand, were arrested for public disorder.
According to authorities figures, around 7,000 people gathered around the PSOE national headquarters in Madrid, after more than 3,000 were at the same location on Monday.
On Tuesday, a group of more than 500 people also headed to the area surrounding the Spanish parliament after closing Gran Vía, one of the main arteries in central Madrid. After a few minutes at the parliament, the group returned to concentration in front of the PSOE headquarters.
The demonstration was dispersed after a little more than two hours of concentration by the police and by elements of anti-riot forces, when part of the demonstrators had already left the place and when a group began to throw objects at the security forces and tried to force the demonstration . the barriers placed on the street and police cordons.
A police complaint had already been filed on Monday and three people were arrested after the demonstration in Madrid.
The PSOE on Tuesday suspended activities at its headquarters across the country due to the possibility of violent gatherings in front of its buildings.
The president of Vox (far right), Santiago Abascal, who was at the meeting in Madrid on Monday, said on Tuesday that the government has ordered a police complaint against a “peaceful and legal” demonstration and asked police “not to comply with illegal orders ‘. when they are repeated”.
Abascal vowed Monday that “mobilizations against the coup will be constant and increasing.”
In addition to Vox, the president of the Spanish People’s Party (PP, right), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, also pledged on Monday to challenge the PSOE’s agreements with Catalan independence activists “by all means, in all cases and in all areas.” also on the streets, calling for demonstrations in 52 cities next Sunday.
On Tuesday, the PP stressed that it does not support the demonstrations called for near the PSOE and Feijóo headquarters, despite blaming Sánchez for the “social unrest”. She called for protests ‘with respect and exemplary’.
After the Spanish elections on July 23, the PSOE signs agreements with Catalan, Basque and Galician nationalist and independence parties, including an amnesty for Catalan independence activists who led the 2017 self-determination effort in the region.
If all agreements are confirmed, Pedro Sánchez could be reappointed as leader of the Spanish government.
If a new prime minister is not appointed by parliament by November 27, Spain will have to repeat the elections.
Source: DN
