Hundreds of thousands of people attend protests in cities across Spain

MANY Spanish cities were packed with protestors this Sunday, November 12, demonstrating against Pedro Sánchez and the amnesty law.

According to estimates from the Partido Popular, around two million people were involved. However, the Government Delegations claimed the figure was nearer to 450,000, reported 20minutos.es.

An event in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol attracted around one million according to the organisers, with the Government Delegation lowering that total to 80,000 attendees. Santiago Abascal, the leader of Vox, was present at the event in the capital.

Chants of ‘Spain is not for sale’, and ‘Puigdemont to prison’ were among those ringing out, while others shouted insults directed at Pedro Sánchez, the President of the Government. These included calls for a ‘general strike’.

#Video
Massive protest across #Spain against prime minister Pedro Sanchez's plans to grant amnesty to Catalan separatists in order to stay in power pic.twitter.com/ipuNIafv5z

— RawNews1st (@Raw_News1st) November 12, 2023

What happened in Madrid?

The protesters interrupted speeches made by politicians including José Luis Martínez Almeida, the mayor of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of the Community, and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the PP.

‘If it occurred to me to agree to what Pedro Sánchez is agreeing to, there would be a huge general strike throughout Spain’, Feijóo said in his speech.

He lashed out at Sánchez for most of it: ‘He makes his personal needs into problems for the Spanish people; his greed into immorality, and his selfishness into humiliation’, he continued.

How many people turned out in Barcelona?

A similar protest in Barcelona was attended by 6,500 people, according to the Urban Guard and 20,000, according to the organisers.

It brought together leaders of the PP, with Alejandro Fernández, the president of the PP of Catalonia at the head. Ignacio Garriga, the general secretary of Vox was also present, along with Carlos Carrizosa, the leader of the Ciudadanos party in Catalonia.

The streets of Murcia, Pamplona and Salamanca also saw thousands of protestors carrying banners and waving Spanish flags in demonstration against the PSOE government pact with the Catalan independence parties.

What was the turnout in Andalucia?

More than 100,000 people were said to have attended the rallies that took place in the eight Andalucian provincial capitals, with the largest taking place in Sevilla, Malaga and Granada.

These massive concentrations took place in the central squares and surrounding streets of the eight cities. The anthems of Andalucia and Spain were sang and messages such as ‘Puigdemont, go to jail’, were heard being chanted.

In a statement released after the rallies, the PP-A applauded the: ‘Example of serenity and moderation given this Sunday by the hundreds of thousands of Andalucians who came to the rallies to protest peacefully but decisively against the amnesty law agreed between Pedro Sánchez and the separatists, and in defence of the equality of all Spaniards’.

Which other cities saw protests taking place?

More than 35,000 gathered in the centre of Oviedo according to the local police, and about 6,000 according to the Government Delegation.

The five provincial capitals of Castilla-La Mancha saw similar protests. Emiliano García-Page, the president of Castilla-La Mancha, was urged by the PP to ‘reconsider’ and ask the socialist deputies in the Congress of Deputies elected by the constituencies of the region to vote ‘in conscience’ to stop this amnesty.

Paco Núñez, the PP president of Castilla-La Mancha, took part in the rally held in Toledo’s Plaza de Zocodover, accompanied by Carlos Velázquez, the mayor of the city and provincial president of the party.

A rally that has had an influx of 10,000 people, According to PP sources, the rally was attended by 10,000 a figure lowered to 5,000 by police data provided by the Government Delegation.

What about in the Canary Islands?

Some 10,000 people demonstrated peacefully in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria according to sources from the PP, and 4,500, according to sources from the Government Delegation.

The Parque de La Granja, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and the Plaza de España, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, were filled with Spanish flags waving to the sound of chants such as ‘Spain is not for sale’, ‘This is not a party, it’s a rally, and ‘Puigdemont to jail’.

According to sources from the Government Delegation, some 2,000 people gathered in the capital of Tenerife and some 2,500 in the capital of Gran Canaria, with no incidents reported.

An estimated 30,000 people attended the protests in the four provincial capitals of Galicia said the PP. A Coruña and Pontevedra were reported to have been the most crowded, with more than 10,000 people in the Jardines de Méndez Núñez and Praza da Peregrina.

More than 4,000 people gathered in front of the Government Subdelegation in Lugo, as well as on the esplanade of the Municipal Auditorium in Ourense.

Alfonso Rueda, the president of the Xunta and the Galician PP was present at the event in Pontevedra. The rally in A Coruña was attended by Paula Prado, the secretary general of the PP of Galicia, and Miguel Tellado, the deputy secretary of the PP, among other officials.