Thousands of people demonstrated this Sunday, November 12, in different cities in Spain against the amnesty for Catalan independentists, agreed upon by the socialist party in exchange for their participation in a new government majority, which would guarantee them power for four years. more to Pedro Sánchez. The demonstrations were called by the conservative Popular Party (PP) and the far-right Vox joined.
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The agreement that the Government reached on Thursday, November 9, with the Catalan separatist party Junts, which includes the approval of a law that grants amnesty to those convicted of the attempted secession, has caused shock in a part of Spanish society. of Catalonia of Spain in 2017.
Protests in Spain against agreement between PSOE and Junts that gives amnesty to independentists
The independence boom began to gain prominence since 2012, but it was the former president of the generality of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, who led a failed independence attempt and fled Spain after the unilateral declaration of independence in 2017. Now he would be one of the beneficiaries with the amnesty
For this reason, Pedro Sánchez’s conservative opponents accuse him of putting the rule of law on a tightrope to serve his political interests and perceive his decision as an attack on the rule of law.
In the demonstrations, this November 12, in Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Seville, Malaga, Palma and Valencia, protesters waved Spanish flags and carried banners with slogans such as “Respect the Constitution.”
The Spaniards took to the streets en masse today to tell Pedro Sánchez that #SpainNoSeRinde.
From the 52 provincial capitals we have shouted NO to the amnesty and NO to the humiliation before the independence movement.
Photos of Madrid, Seville, Segovia and Valencia. pic.twitter.com/loZIymPNZs
— Miguel Tellado (@Mtelladof) November 12, 2023
In the country’s capital, the demonstration was led by the leader of the conservatives, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, president of the Popular Party (PP). There were about 80,000 people, according to sources from the acting Spanish Government. And the far-right party Vox joined in, whose leader, Santiago Abascal, attended the protest.
“Many of my acquaintances who vote socialist are very disappointed because Sánchez never said that amnesty would be part of his program,” said Inmaculada Herranz Castro, 64, who was part of the demonstration.
This time the protests were the most numerous than those nine days ago, called by social networks, which in some cases led to incidents that the right attributes to a violent minority trying to break up peaceful concentrations.
What is the political background to this?
After the July 23 elections did not give a majority to any particular party, the socialists negotiated with smaller parties such as the far-left Sumar platform and the Catalan, Galician and Basque nationalist parties.
The support of Junts is relevant because added to that of the Basque nationalists, achieved last week, Pedro Sánchez would finally have an absolute majority in Parliament and can approve the vote of confidence to form a new Government.
All the supports add up to 179 seats out of 350, above the absolute majority required in the first vote in the Spanish Parliament for the investiture, which is expected for this week although there is still no fixed date.
With EFE, AFP and Reuters
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