Santiago Abascal was the only national leader present at the Cibeles protest, supported by a hundred civil associations, but which did not reach the size of the large concentration of the ‘photo of Columbus’ in 2019 | Government delegation figures in 31,000 attendees, while the organizers raise the figure to 500,000
The right returned this Saturday to take the center of Madrid to demand the resignation of Pedro Sánchez. But he did not do it either in the Plaza de Colón, the usual scene of protests against the Government, or with the iconic image of unity of the famous photo in the square in honor of the discoverer three years ago. The PP was very careful to avoid this snapshot by avoiding the attendance of its first ‘swords’ to the protest seconded by a hundred organizations of civil associations under the slogan “For Spain, Democracy and the Constitution.”
Although both the PP and Ciudadanos officially encouraged their supporters to attend the rally on this icy morning in Madrid, the truth is that the lack of ‘energy’ in this appeal by the main opposition party when it comes to mobilizing the theirs something was noticed in the assistance. The crowd did fill the Plaza de Cibeles and overflowed the beginning of the nearby avenues such as Calle Alcalá, Paseo de Recoletos or Paseo del Prado. But the crowd did not reach the volume of the historic concentration on February 10, 2019 under the Columbus monument.
So, in that protest in which Pablo Casado, Albert Ribera and Santiago Abascal were photographed side by side, according to the Government Delegation there were 45,000 attendees. This Saturday, the same institution placed them at 31,000. The organizers of the ‘photo of Columbus’ protest estimated that 200,000 people supported the rally three years ago. The organizers of today’s protest in Cibeles claimed to have gathered 500,000 souls.
In any case, the protest this Saturday was much larger than the last solo Vox mobilization in Colón last November.
Santiago Abascal was the only leader of a national party who attended the rally that had been called by Foro España Cívica and Fundación Foro Libertad y Alternativa and seconded, among other platforms, by Unión 78, Rosa Díez and Fernando Savater, Libres e Iguales, by Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo or NEOS, by Jaime Mayor Oreja.
The sought-after low profile of the PP in this protest so as not to unite its image with that of Vox was evident. Not a trace of Alberto Núñez-Feijoo or Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The popular ones left their representation in faces practically unknown to the general public, such as the Deputy Secretary for Regional and Local Coordination, Pedro Rollán, the Deputy Secretary for Organization, Miguel Tellado, and the PP spokesperson in the European Parliament, Dolors Montserrat.
Nor did the new direction of Ciudadanos de Patricia Patricia Guasp want to reproduce the ‘photo of Columbus’, although the former orange leader and spokesperson in Congress, Inés Arrimadas, or the deputy mayor of Madrid, Begoña Villacís, did join the protest.
penal reform
The tens of thousands of people who gathered in the Plaza de la Cibeles (Colón could not be the scene of this new demonstration of anti-Sanchismo muscle because a convener of a far-right protest went ahead for a few minutes to request that space from the Delegation) demanded the calling of early elections and, amid a tide of Spanish flags, they particularly cried out against the latest legal reforms of the Government to “please” their partners with the repeal of sedition and the modification of embezzlement. Although there were also numerous proclamations against the controversial law of ‘only yes is yes’ and the reduction of sentences for sexual offenders.
The appeal of the convocation was even broader. He called for citizen mobilization in the face of the “critical situation” that Spain is experiencing, also due to the “assault” on the Judiciary, the “colonization” in a “partisan” manner of institutions such as the Constitutional Court, the release of terrorists or the increase in crime, youth unemployment or child poverty.
The posters and shouts were especially virulent against the head of the central Executive. In fact, on a large banner located in a preferred location of the concentration, it could be read: «Out with the liar, traitor, stateless person, psychopath and squatter from Moncloa. Outside Pedro Sánchez ». A gigantic photograph of the president transformed into Pinocchio was also seen from any corner of the square.
“Government of lies”
«We are here together with thousands of Spaniards, in the best company and against the worst government in our history, against the government of lies to the voters, against the government of dark pacts with all the enemies of the constitutional order and unity. of the nation”, Santiago Abascal pointed out at the beginning of the concentration.
“The Government delivers all the resources of the Rule of Law to Bildu and ERC, who are the ones who unfortunately run this country,” said Tellado, who insisted on the “incompetence” and “arrogance” of the Sánchez Executive, which ” it is allowing sex offenders to be released from prison early and is allowing more than 200 to have their sentences reduced.”
Arrimadas emphasized that “Sánchez is a danger to Spain”, while guaranteeing that “those who agree with Bildu are not going to make us bow our heads.”
The act ended with the reading of a manifesto in which two activists from the organizing associations, Júlia Calvet and Nacho Trillo, from the stage installed at the foot of the Madrid City Council, denounced the “constitutional mutation plan that is being agreed with the representatives of totalitarian populism, secessionist nationalists and the heirs of ETA’s discourse of terror».
“Sánchez is corroding our democracy, undermining our institutions and dividing the population”, the two spokesmen abounded, who warned that Spain with the current Executive is heading towards “a defective and incomplete democracy and in a discredited, decadent and diminished Spain”. . “We Spaniards have not voted for what is happening!” the conveners cried from the stage, who closed their speech with a “Long live the Constitution! Long live the king! and Long live Spain!
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