Hundreds of people protesting the amnesty of Catalan independence activists tried to march to the Moncloa Palace, the seat of the Spanish government, and blocked a highway this Saturday after abandoning a demonstration in central Madrid.
According to authorities, several hundred people demonstrated near the Moncloa Palace and during their march occupied lanes of the A-6 motorway, on one of the access roads to Madrid, leading to a complete closure of traffic in one direction by the Police.
A police barrier prevented demonstrators from entering Moncloa Square and the entrance to the building complex of the Spanish government headquarters, keeping them on the closed roads of the highway.
The concentration, including the highway closure, lasted about two hours and ended when police peacefully dispersed the demonstrators.
On the other hand, according to the authorities, another group of about 3,000 people gathered also after the demonstration in the center of Madrid, near the national headquarters of the Socialist Party (PSOE, in the Government of Spain), a place where concentrations against amnesty have taken place daily in recent weeks.
The city of Madrid returned this Saturday at the end of the morning as a stage for a demonstration against the amnesty of Catalan independence activists, which, according to figures provided by the authorities, mobilized 170 thousand people, and according to the organizers, a million people. .
The demonstration was convened by a platform of civil society organizations and received the support of the Popular Party (PP, right) and Vox (far right), the first and third forces in the Spanish parliament, respectively.
Last Sunday, demonstrations called by the PP in 52 cities mobilized two million people, according to the party, and 450,000 according to the authorities.
In addition, there have been daily demonstrations at night in front of the PSOE national headquarters in Madrid, via social media.
These demonstrations, supported by Vox but from which the PP stands out, have on several occasions ended with riots and police charges and have also been marked by fascist symbols, chants and gestures and those of the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
The proposed amnesty law was submitted to parliament by the PSOE last Monday and is the result of agreements with two Catalan parties that in return allowed for a new left-wing government in Spain, led by Pedro Sánchez, after the legislature on Thursday. elections on July 23.
The Spanish right believes that the amnesty of Catalan politicians who led the Catalan self-determination effort in 2017 could constitute an attack on the rule of law and the principle of the separation of powers, in a warning also issued by associations of judges and prosecutors expressed.
The PSOE emphasizes that the amnesty was already considered legal by the Spanish Constitutional Court in 1986, was already applied in Spain in 1976 and 1977 and has also been “fully approved” in European bodies and by the European Court of Rights. Man.
Socialists argue that this amnesty brings a political conflict back into the political sphere and will serve to restore coexistence among Catalans and between Catalonia and the rest of Spain after the 2017 split.
Source: DN
