(Madrid) Several tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Madrid on Saturday against the left-wing government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez with the support of the right-wing opposition and the far right.
Attendees, many waving red and yellow Spanish flags, called for Sanchez’s resignation, with some showing a portrait of the prime minister crossed out with the words “traitor”.
Some 30,000 people took part in the rally in Cibeles Square in Madrid, according to estimates by the central government delegation in the Spanish capital, with organizers putting the figure at 700,000 people.
The demonstration, organized at the call of right-wing civil society organizations, received the support of the People’s Party (PP), the main opposition party, and the far-right formation Vox, 2023 being an election year crucial for Spain.
The right is outraged by the government’s decision to abolish the offense of sedition, the main charge having targeted nine Catalan independence leaders sentenced to prison terms for their role in the attempted secession of Catalonia in 2017.
This offense of sedition was replaced by another offense punishable by less severe prison sentences.
Conservatives also criticize a law against sexual violence that increases penalties for rape while reducing sentences for other sexual offenses.
Speaking to the press at the start of the rally, Vox leader Santiago Abascal denounced “the worst government in history” which had “divided Spaniards and freed rapists and coup plotters”.
PP President Alberto Nunez Feijoo, who has tried to move the Popular Party towards the center since taking over as leader in April, did not attend the rally but encouraged PP members to participate.
Most polls give the PP the winner in the general elections scheduled for the end of the year, but they also show that the conservatives will need the support of Vox to govern.
Local and regional elections are also scheduled for May.
Without a parliamentary majority, the government of Mr. Sanchez has been forced since its formation to negotiate with the Basque and Catalan separatists to have its laws adopted, which has aroused the anger of the right.
The Conservatives accuse Mr Sanchez of suppressing the offense of sedition to secure the support of the Catalan independence party ERC in parliament.
The government replies that this provision of the law, archaic, should be replaced by another more in line with European standards.