Protestors, who took part in the right-wing and far-right backed “anti-Sanchez” demonstration in Madrid on Saturday called for the immediate resignation of socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose government they say threatens democracy while being the “worst” in the country’s recent history.
Anti-government protesters gathered in Plaza de Cibeles, which is at the heart of the capital. While some reports point to more than 500,000 protesters, official figures from the government delegation in Madrid place the number at 31,000.
Under the slogan “For Spain, Democracy and the Constitution”, protesters, many wrapped in national flags, denounced the “political drift of the country”.
The “anti-Sánchez” demonstration was organised by civil society organisations Convivencia Cívica Catalana, Fundación Foro Libertad y Alternativa, Foro España Cívica, Libres e Iguales, Neos, and another sixty small right-wing adherents. It was backed by centre-right Partido Popular (PP/EPP), far-right Vox (ECR) and centre-liberal Ciudadanos (Citizens).
“Sánchez, resign” and “traitor”, as well as other anti-government slogans were chanted during the demonstration.
A manifesto was also read that denounced the government for paving the way for its partners, mainly the regional pro-independence Basque and Catalan parties, to gain more influence in Madrid.
The manifesto also condemned the government for having pardoned the “seditious”.
Municipal elections will be held in May in Spain, a vote many view as being the first litmus test for Sanchez’s governing coalition with Unidas Podemos.
General elections will be held in December during the final month of Spain’s position as the rotating head of the EU Council presidency. Meanwhile, the PP presented its candidates for the regional elections on Sunday, with its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, describing them as “infantry” that will defeat the socialists and put an end to the Sanchez’s way of managing government known as “Sanchismo”.
The secretary general of the PP in Madrid, Alfonso Serrano, called on Sanchez’s governing PSOE party to be “brave” and “rebel against a government that is putting the basic principles of our rule of law and our Constitution in check”, he stressed.
Sánchez retorted on Saturday that, despite the demonstrations, “today the Constitution is being respected throughout Spain”.
The “threat of the breakdown of coexistence is becoming increasingly distant”, he said in reference to the pro-independence movement in Catalonia.
Sánchez also criticised those who want “a broken Spain” just before his party held an event in Castilla y León’s Valladolid to present the candidates for the region for the May elections, which was attended by some 1,500 people.
“We are the majority of Spaniards, who want coexistence in a Spain that respects diversity and moves forward”, said Sánchez.
The PP “did absolutely nothing” when Mariano Rajoy led the government and faced “illegal referendums” that brought the country “into the abyss”, he added.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
Source: euractiv.com
