2023-11-12 04:54:00
The Spanish right will take to the streets on Sunday to protest against the future amnesty law for Catalan separatists, conceded by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez with a view to ensuring their support to be returned to power.
Perceived by part of Spanish society as an attack on the rule of law, this very controversial amnesty comes six years after the attempted secession of Catalonia (north-east), which in 2017 constituted one of the worst crises politics of contemporary Spain.
The Popular Party (PP), the main right-wing opposition group, has called rallies at midday (11:00 GMT) in Madrid and in all the country’s major cities to say “no to amnesty”.
“Democracy is in danger,” asserts the conservative group in a manifesto, calling on “all democrats, without distinction” to join it in the streets.
“They are not going to silence us,” added the PP, whose leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, came first in the legislative elections in July but failed to be invested as Prime Minister, due to lack of sufficient support in Parliament.
Second in the vote, Pedro Sánchez, is now assured of being returned to power by Parliament next week, thanks to the support of the seven deputies from the party of Catalan separatist Carles Puigdemont, the main figure in the secession attempt. from 2017 who fled to Belgium to escape legal proceedings.
In exchange for its support, Puigdemont’s party, Together for Catalonia (Junts per Catalunya), obtained an amnesty law for separatists pursued by the courts, mainly for the events of 2017, as well as the opening of negotiations , among others, on the question of “recognition of Catalonia as a nation”.
The Spanish right, part of the judiciary, but also certain moderate leaders of Mr. Sánchez’s Socialist Party, consider that this amnesty measure goes against the principles of equality and territorial unity and the separation of powers.
“Accept the results of the ballot boxes”
Speaking at the Congress of European Socialists in Malaga, southern Spain, Pedro Sánchez, in power since 2018, called on Saturday the Popular Party to “accept the result of the ballot boxes and the legitimacy of the government that we will soon form” .
The far-right Vox party announced it would join PP rallies on Sunday before taking part in demonstrations in front of Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) headquarters across the country.
The national headquarters of the PSOE in Madrid has been the target for more than a week of daily demonstrations called by organizations close to Vox. These gatherings have degenerated several times this week into clashes between radical activists and the police.
“We have the duty to resist a government and a tyrant who will obtain his inauguration thanks to all the enemies of Spain,” declared Thursday evening the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, during one of these demonstrations.
11/12/2023 03:51:39 – Madrid (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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