2024-03-09 19:14:35
Thousands of Spaniards protested in the center of Madrid against the amnesty given to Catalan separatists who participated in the failed attempt to separate Catalonia in 2017, Reuters reported.
The ruling Spanish Socialist Workers Party (ISWP) reached an agreement with the two Catalan nationalist parties on Thursday, and the amnesty law is expected to be voted on by parliament later this month.
The amnesty sparked a series of large demonstrations as the conservative People’s Party (NP), the right-wing Vox formation and some wings of the IRSP opposed it.
“As for Vox, there will be no truce or peace with this government,” the group’s leader, Santiago Abascal, told reporters in Madrid at today’s demonstration, where protesters waved the national flag and sang patriotic songs.
The Socialists offered the amnesty in exchange for support for the new mandate of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez from the two Catalan separatist parties with whom the agreement was reached on Thursday, BTA reported.
The amnesty will cover participants in all events related to the Catalan independence movement since 2011, including the symbolic vote held in 2014 and the 2017 independence referendum, which the court declared illegal.