Mass demonstration in Madrid against amnesty for Catalan independents | Right-winger Alberto Nunez Viejo led the event

Tens of thousands of people attended an event called by the right-wing Popular Party on Sunday in Madrid. To support their leader, Alberto Nunez Viejo, the Against the virtual amnesty requested by the Catalan independents For those who participated in the 2017 secessionist process. This event, in which the two former heads of the People’s Party government also participated, José María Aznar and Mariano RajuThis happened 48 hours before the start of the debate on Vigo’s inauguration in Congress, for which he does not yet have a sufficient majority.

“I owe it to the Spaniards”

“I am very clear,” he said, “I owe myself exclusively to all Spaniards. I am with them, nothing more.” FigoWho seemed to admit again between the lines that he does not have the necessary support in Congress to be elected prime minister of the next government. “Whether I will become prime minister or not, but for me, What will remain for Spain is freedom, equality and dignityHe added in front of about 40,000 demonstrators who were summoned to reject what the People’s Party described as Sanchez’s plan to pardon Catalan separatists as a condition for remaining in power.

“What no Spaniards voted for, at least 94%, was changing the constitutional system.”He said Figo Adding, “This was not voted on. It is a scam and we will not negotiate scams.” In the elections that took place last July, the People’s Party won 137 seats, which, along with 33 seats for the far-right Vox party that supports it, and two other seats from different regional groups, led to the collection of 172 votes in favor of Figo’s inauguration. He will need the support of 176 out of 350 representatives who make up Congress, but the rest have already announced that they will vote against him.

The virtual amnesty that the Catalan independents are demanding for their leaders who participated in the separatist process in 2017. They want to negotiate with the Socialists in exchange for their support for the leader of the Socialist Workers Party, Pedro Sanchez, so that he can renew his term. Government. The People’s Party considers this amnesty to be unconstitutional. In this sense, he called on former President Aznar to raise his voice against the “shame” of amnesty for the “coup attempt” of the independence process and demanded that “everyone who can decide should make his decision in good conscience.”

Protesters supported Figo with chants of “President, President”, while protests focused on Pedro Sánchez loudly shouting “Out, out” or “Sánchez resign”. The Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, and the Regional President of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, also participated on the stage. “Are we going to let them destroy Spain for everyone? No way,” Ayuso said, noting that Figo will be “the voice of the dignity of every Spaniard” in Congress on Tuesday.

“There will be a socialist government”

Pedro SanchezHowever, he traveled to Barcelona, ​​the capital of Catalonia, to attend a regional ceremony and from there he repeated that Figo had no chance of being inaugurated and that he was wasting the Spaniards’ time. “Today they are demonstrating against the socialist government. Well, I’m sorry. There will be a socialist government,” the Spanish Prime Minister said in his speech at the Java Flower Festival. People’s Party leaders are going to the inauguration ceremony, “even they don’t believe him”he added.

Sanchez, leader of the People’s Party, warned that “it is possible to lose the elections, but you cannot lose the sense of reality,” considering that Figo is “interrupting himself” by demonstrating four days after his “failed” inauguration. On the contrary, Sánchez claims that although his party has fewer votes than the PP, it is able to obtain sufficient support from other leftist and nationalist formations, which is why he aspires to run for head of government when the Figo government fails. “We will search for sounds even under the stones”Settlement Sanchez.

If his inauguration fails, Sánchez, who will take power in 2018 and has been acting president since the election, may try to enlist the support of a coalition of left-wing and pro-independence parties from Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia. He has already announced who he will vote for and for which a Catalan party is still trying to convince him. This party, Together for Catalonia, is led by former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, a refugee in Belgium who is wanted by Spanish justice for leading a failed bid for Catalan independence in 2017, which included holding an independence referendum.

Puigdemont calls on the central authorities in Spain to pardon all those who were tried for the separatist attempt in Catalonia in 2017 and the possibility of Catalonia deciding its future unilaterally, including through another referendum, as well as the appointment of an international mediator between Catalonia. the state.

In addition, Together for Catalonia is demanding 450 billion euros ($479,000) from the Spanish state as part of what it describes as a “historical debt.” Sanchez said the PSOE was committed to “turning the page, coexistence, harmony and reunion” with Catalonia, although at no point did he refer to a purported amnesty.