Night protests continue in front of the PSOE headquarters in Madrid

GGroups of hooded men took over the protest at 10:30 pm local time (9:30 pm in Lisbon), singing the Francoist anthem “Cara al sol”, trying to break down the police barriers and throwing bottles and cans at the police forces.

Two protesters were detained by the police and sent to a local police station, according to the Efe news agency.

The protesters insulted Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the current Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, as well as slogans such as “Arriba España” or “Dónde están los Borbones?”, in a reference to King Philip

Late this morning, Madrid once again became the stage for a demonstration against the amnesty of Catalan independence activists that mobilized 170,000 people, according to figures from the authorities, with the organizers claiming one million.

The demonstration was called by a platform of civil society entities and had the support of the Popular Party (PP, right) and Vox (extreme right), the first and third forces in the Spanish parliament, respectively.

Last Sunday, demonstrations called by the PP in 52 cities mobilized two million people, according to the party, and 450 thousand, according to the authorities.

Furthermore, there have been daily demonstrations, at night, in front of the PSOE national headquarters, in Madrid, called on social media.

These demonstrations, supported by Vox, but from which the PP stands apart, have ended with riots and police charges on several occasions and have also been marked by fascist symbols, chants and gestures and those of Francisco Franco’s Spanish dictatorship.

The proposed amnesty law was delivered to parliament last Monday by the PSOE and is the result of agreements with two Catalan parties that in return made possible, on Thursday, a new left-wing government in Spain, led by Pedro Sánchez, following of the legislative elections on July 23.

The Spanish right considers that the amnesty of Catalan politicians who led Catalonia’s attempt at self-determination in 2017 could constitute an attack on the rule of law and the principle of separation of powers, in a warning that associations of judges and prosecutors have also made.

The PSOE emphasizes that the amnesty was already considered legal by the Spanish Constitutional Court in 1986, that it was already applied in Spain in 1976 and 1977 and is also “perfectly approved” in European instances and by the European Court of Human Rights.

Socialists argue that this amnesty returns a political conflict to the political sphere and will serve to restore coexistence between Catalans and between Catalonia and the rest of Spain after the 2017 fracture.

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