Two hundred Falangists sing 'Cara al sol' at the national headquarters of the PSOE

After a few weeks, the first of this year, of relative calm after an autumn marked by protests against the amnesty law, this Friday Ferraz Street has once again been the epicenter of an ultra-protest. But this time not as part of the “National November”, the daily protests in the vicinity of the socialist headquarters that began at the beginning of last November, but a political event organized by the Spanish Falange under the motto The national youth against the regime of '78. Two hundred people, according to the Government Delegation, have gathered in front of the federal headquarters of the PSOE on Ferraz Street, where they have sung the Falangist anthem, Face to sun, convened by the Spanish Falange, in tribute to Matías Montero, a Falangist student shot dead in 1934.

The demonstration has been marked by protests against the Government, and especially against its president, Pedro Sánchez, for his pacts with the Catalan independentists. Some of the slogans have reminded those that were heard daily during the National November; Thus, slogans and insults have been uttered against the head of the Executive – “Sánchez, prisoner, and not in Congress”, “Sánchez, psychopath” – and favorable allusions to the wave of demonstrations in the agricultural sector: “Farmer, take out your tractor ”. One of the few positive ones, because there have been many references against the European Union, King Philip and Morocco.

After half an hour gathered around the corner of Ferraz and Marqués de Urquijo, the crowd has advanced to the door of the socialist headquarters, where, arm raised, the fascist salute, they began to sing Cara al Sol in unison. Moments before, one of the leaders of the march urged those present to sing a “beautiful song” to Sánchez. Just before singing the Face to sun, Several protesters have referred to the Government delegation as “bastards” at the service of a party that governs “alongside coup plotters.” In relation to the position of the Delegation, against the demonstration including Ferraz in its itinerary, they stated: “again, we have passed.”

Another allusion has come from the “Bar de Ferraz”, an improvised street stall where soft drinks and beers are sold. Today, the stall had an extra sign that read “El Bar de la Facho Sphera”, in reference to President Sánchez's recent protests against the practices of the media conglomerate close to the Spanish right and extreme right. Once the march was over, attendees gathered on the nearby Álvarez Mendizábal street to pay tribute to Matías Montero, a Falangist student who was murdered in 1934 in that place.

The organization of the event was not without controversy from the beginning. The national head of Falange, Manuel Andrino Lobo, issued a petition on January 12 to hold a demonstration that would pass through Ferraz Street and a subsequent political event in tribute to Matías Monero, a Falangist student murdered in 1934 by socialist gunmen in the center of Madrid and who ultimately became a martyr of the dictatorship. Although the Democratic Memory Law, in force since October 2022, establishes a sanctioning regime for “calls for events, dissemination campaigns” of sound elements or images that incite personal or collective exaltation of the military uprising or the Dictatorship, The text added that after the intervention of several speakers, the event would conclude with “the arm raised, intoning the Face to sun”.

The Government Delegation authorized the demonstration, but offering an alternative route – that did not go through Ferraz – to avoid public order problems, emphasizing that the PSOE headquarters is a space “of special protection to guarantee public safety”, alluding to the constant daily rallies of the so-called “national November”, some of them violent, causing altercations, injuries and arrests. Falange appealed the decision and the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid upheld the appeal this Thursday and the demonstration was authorized as proposed by the organizers.

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