Alberto Núñez Feijóo's
People's Party (PP), failed to form a government as they could not muster enough support to reach a parliamentary majority. After Feijóo failed in his investiture vote, King
Felipe VI tasked Sánchez with forming a government.[3] The distribution of seats, after the election resulted in Sánchez being required to rely on Junts (with seven seats in Congress at the time) to vote in his favor to be able to form a government.[4][5] Junts had not supported him in the formation of previous governments, having voted against him in his July 2019 and January 2020 investiture votes.[6][7]
The starting position of Junts and
Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) in negotiations were the
amnesty of all participants in the
2017 Catalan independence referendum, and the possibility of holding
a new referendum.
Catalan Civil Society (SCC), a group opposed to Catalan independence, called a demonstration for 8 October, in response to a potential amnesty.[8] On 28 October Sánchez discussed the amnesty proposal at a PSOE Federal Committee, as part of government formation negotiations.[9][10] Following the investment of Sanchez's government in the middle of November, the protests against Catalan amnesty began declining by late February, with new protests being called at the end of May days before the law was passed, having failed to achieve their objectives.
Protests in 2023
Preventive demonstrations against the amnesty in Madrid on 24 September 2023 (top) and in Barcelona on 8 October 2023 (bottom)
The
People's Party (PP) called their first protest against a possible amnesty for the
Catalan pro-independence supporters by Sánchez before
Alberto Núñez Feijóo presented himself for investiture.[11] The protest took place in the Plaza de Felipe II in Madrid on the morning of September 24.[12][13] Feijóo was supported by former presidents
José María Aznar and
Mariano Rajoy, as well as by other PP barons such as Almeida and Ayuso.[11][12][14] A delegation of the government of the Community of Madrid estimated that more than 40,000 people attended the event, while the PP put the number at 60,000. There was no official confirmation of the number who attended.[12][14]
The acting vice-president
Yolanda Díaz said about this event that the "proposal of the right wing is to set fire to Catalonia", while the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia,
Pere Aragonès, said that the meeting of the PP was "a demonstration of hatred and revenge against Catalonia".[15]
28 October
Before negotiations by Sánchez to form a government, SCC called a demonstration in Barcelona against the amnesty proposal.[16] Núñez Feijóo and
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, of the PP, attended.[8][16]
29 October
After the amnesty was announced to be forming part of negotiations to form a Sánchez-led government, a protest organised by a group linked to the Vox party took place in the Plaza de Colón in Madrid. According to government of Madrid sources, 100,000 people attended.[17][18][19]
Feijóo took part in a protest in
Málaga with the president of
Andalusia,
Juanma Moreno of the PP, 11,000 people attended according to National Police.[20][21]
3–5 November
On 3–5 November, demonstrations were held at the PSOE headquarters in Calle de Ferraz. The PP distanced itself from these protests but the protests were supported by the Vox party. A thousand people were reported to be at the demonstration.[17][22][23] Although the demonstration had not been communicated to the Government Delegation, the National Police was aware of it.[17][22][24]
On 4 November, the former president of the
Senate of SpainEsperanza Aguirre of the PP called for the amnesty to be put to a national referendum.[25][26][27] The same day, PSOE agreed to continue with the agreement with Sumar to form a government and to continue negotiating with the other parliamentary groups.[28] On 5 November, protests were held in
Barcelona,
Burgos,
Córdoba,
León,
Socuéllamos, Valencia,
Vigo and
Villareal.[29][30][31]
7 November
On 7 November, there were demonstrations in Madrid, Barcelona, Badajoz, Valencia, Seville, El Puerto de Santa Maria, Oviedo, Salamanca, Tarragona, Zaragoza, Leon and Murcia.[10]
9 November
Protests began in front of the
PSOE headquarters on Thursday, involving multiple confrontations with the police. Tensions rose after protesters threw firecrackers at the police, and there were also reports of flares being thrown. Some protesters destroyed the fences that were protecting the headquarters of the PSOE and there were also people chanting "Puigdemont, to prison", "Let Txapote vote for you", and "Sánchez traitor". The protests were dispersed, with 24 arrests made and 7 police officers injured.[32]
11 November
Protests continued outside of the PSOE headquarters, with protesters throwing objects at the police. The police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. When the police began to disperse crowds and arrest protestors, improvised sit-ins began on Marques de Urquijo Street. In total, 9 arrests were made and 3 people were injured.[33]
12 November
Protests were called for by the PP and Vox and a reported 52 cities held protests, additionally 1,000 people attended a protest outside the PSOE headquarters.[34][35] In total, 13 arrests and there were reports of 6 people being injured.[36] The following table shows the number of participants in the protests by city:[37]
The Valencia Government Delegation reported 4,500 protestors in
Castellón, including Castellón mayor
Begoña Carrasco.[52] In
Valencia, several people reportedly attacked journalist Matilde Alcaraz and her cameraman while covering the protests for
À Punt.[53]
13 November
An estimated 80,000 people gathered in Madrid's
Puerta del Sol square against the amnesty deal, while several thousand more gathered in cities across the country. Among the protesters was the PP leadership, including former prime minister
José María Aznar, Madrid regional premier
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and Madrid Madrid Mayor
Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida.[54] Protesters were also present in the vicinity of the PSOE headquarters. Among those on Ferraz Street was Vox President
Santiago Abascal, who was accompanied by American journalist and former
Fox News anchor
Tucker Carlson.[55] In Valencia, protesters were limited to 100 outside the headquarters of the
Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PPSV), a regional branch of the
PSOE.[56]
Solidaridad, a trade union affiliated with Vox, called for a general strike for 24 November.[57] The strike was deemed illegal by the Spanish government despite being postulated within the 10-day announcement limit as the nature of the protests was deemed to be strictly political and not related to labor demands, in violation of strike laws.[58][59]
14 November
There were protests outside of the PSOE headquarters on Ferraz Street.[60] The Government Delegation reported 1,300 people there.[61] Protesters placed 20 inflatable dolls in the front row of the protest to mock the PSOE as "not a political party, but a strip club".[62][60][61] Protestors made anti-Sánchez chants to police to join their sides in the protests. There were also protesters outside of the Congress of Deputies.[63]
It was reported that 10 student associations, affiliated with Vox, protested in front of the
Complutense Faculty of Law, while a smaller number of students protested at the
University of Barcelona's Faculty of Law. The number of protesters were reported between 50–100 in Complutense, while 20 were reported at the University of Barcelona.[64][65]
Vox filed a complaint against Prime Minister
Pedro Sánchez amidst his amnesty proposals to the
Supreme Court of Spain for a precautionary suspension of his investiture, which did not happen.[66] The petition was rejected by the Court, noting that Santiago Abascal forgot to state what crime
Sánchez had committed and even who he was complaining against.[67][68]
15 November
Variation on the Spanish flag used by some protesters
Protests outside of the PSOE headquarters occurred with protesters carrying the flags of Spain and making anti-Puigdemont chants. The chants were similar to those from previous protests.[69]
16 November
A protest reported to be 4,000 people by
DW protesting after Sanchez's re-election. The protesters were reported to have thrown flares and other objects at police, who issued warnings to the protesters.[70]
17 November
A reduction in the number of protestors was noted, as only around 1,000 protesters were reported on Ferraz Street in Madrid.[71] The Unidades de Intervención Policial (UIP), a riot police sub-unit of the
National Police Corps, oversaw the protests. Present at the protest were
Vox politicians, including Vice President
Javier Ortega Smith and
Junta de Castilla y León Vice President
Juan García Gallardo. According to the Union of Federal Police (UFP), Ortega attempted to coerce the UIP by "directing police to accommodate his own interests", as well as not presenting his credentials as a member of the
Congress of Deputies to the UIP as he had done on 16 November.[72] The UFP reneged Ortega for "abusing his condition as a Deputy", as well as making a statement that "these police are the same ones that defended your boss, Mr.
Abascal".[73] Ortega responded by stating that he had come with cameras to prevent violence in the protests. Ortega claimed he had information that some units of the UIP used excessive force that would "fall within the Penal Code as an abuse of authority".[74] When the protests ended, a cleaning crew was required to clean up large quantities of litter, including alcohol containers and soda bottles.[75]
300 protesters celebrated the new year at
Ferraz, during the act, the protesters hung up and hit a doll of
Pedro Sánchez characterized with
Nazi symbols.[82][83] The protest was recorded by the far-right YouTuber Isaac Parejo and the journalist María Durán. The videos were transmitted by a
Youtube channel live.[84] Every important political party of Spain, including
PP and
Vox, rejected the act[85][86][87] and the
PSOE denounced the participants of the protests for hate crimes, and solicited a investigation for find the organizations that financed the act, but before the investigation started, the
PSOE detected a
Vox network of influence on the protesters.[88][89][90] During the investigation, the police questioned Antonio Martínez Vázquez as organizer of the protest,[91] but he only declared that he just helped an organization linked to
Vox, and he did not know about the beating of the doll.[92] After the investigation, the police removed Antonio Martínez from the "blacklist" and they pointed to Pablo González Gasca, one of the leaders of the protests and
Vox member.[93] On 1 January one hundred people tried to calm down the protests with
mariachis.[94]
On 4 January, one hundred protesters headed to the Palacio de Cibeles, many of them,
Vox supporters. These protesters showed support to
Ortega Smith, a Vox member who was expelled from the
City Council of Madrid. The protesters were marching meanwhile shouting "PSOE, PP, la misma mierda es" ("PSOE, PP, are the same shit").[95] The next day, the protesters grabbed another doll of
Pedro Sánchez to hit it as they did on Ferraz on 1 January.[95]
In 2024 the number of protesters went down and the main newspapers started to give less coverage to the protests.[96][97] These reasons led to twenty protesters meeting on 7 January to decide the strategy to follow, with doubts about
Vox's actions and supporting Díaz Ayuso's posture.[98]
In
Valencia, the number of protests dropped so much that Carlos Sanz, a local PP mayor, screamed at those who were protesting in front of the
PSPV headquarters with a "Llevo respetando [a los manifestantes] tres meses, pero sois cuatro gatos y ensuciáis a la derecha española" ("I have been respecting [the protesters] for three months, but you are just four cats and you are making the Spanish right dirty").[99]
On 10 January, PP and
Vox each presented an amendment in congress, and both were rejected.[100][101] The leader of the PP organized a protest in Madrid for 28 January, but Vox did not participate.[102][103][104] 45,000 to 70,000 protesters gathered in Ferraz and protested with two dolls: one of the president Pedro Sanchez, and the other of
Carles Puigdemont.[105][106][107]
February
The 26th Court of Madrid began investigating the New Year's Eve events on 12 February.[108] A day later, the Judicial Ethics Committee, an independent body of the judiciary's governing bodies, endorsed the protests some judges made in November of the previous year against the amnesty,[109] as long as the act is "honest, thoughtful, and sincere conviction" and that the action objected to "could affect the Rule of Law."[110]
On the 16th, Judge Concepción Jerez closed the investigation into the events surrounding the piñata that simulated Pedro Sánchez because "lack of education is not a crime."[111] The PSOE decided to appeal the decision.[112]
On 20 February, the
Cortes Generales approved a fifteen-day extension for the Justice Committee to issue a report on the amnesty law. Two days later, the opposition leader and president of the PP, Núñez Feijóo, announced another series of protests against the law.[113]
Notes
^The
PSOE reached investiture agreements with
ERC and
Junts, in addition to the
BNG and the
PNV.