Thousands of supporters of the party of far-right Vox They demonstrated in several cities in Spain, including Madrid, against the government of Pedro Sánchez, from the left.
Some 25,000 people, according to the police, gathered in the central Plaza de Colón in the Spanish capital, dominated by a huge national flag, which many of those gathered also carried.
“We have a government that governs against the people, that imports crimes that we were not even aware of, that lowers the sentence for those crimes, that disarms the police,” declared the president of Vox, Santiago Abascalin a speech.
The political leader alluded to the future abolition of the crime of seditionfor which nine Catalan pro-independence leaders were sentenced, following their role in the attempted secession of their region, in the northeast of Spain, in 2017.
The amendment of the penal code, which in principle will take place before the end of the year, will encourage, according to the right-wing and extreme-right opposition, new secession attempts in Catalonia, as they will be punished more lightly.
Santiago Abascal also mentioned “twice as many sexual assaults as when Sánchez came to power and a crazed minister who makes a law with the approval of the entire government and the entire political and media left so that rapists and perpetrators end up taking to the streets.” pedophiles”.
Thus, he criticized the so-called law of “only yes is yes” against sexual violence that entered into force in October and which toughened the arsenal against rape, but lowered the penalties for other types of sexual violence.
The amendment caused some convicts to be released from prison, by reducing their sentences.
“Right now we are governed (…) by separatist people, we are governed by people who do not want to be Spanish, so that is my main reason for being here,” said César Peinado, a 65-year-old former truck driver.
“We can no longer take what this government is doing, the laws that it is putting forward, without the necessary majority, taking terrorists to the streets, rapists who are being released,” said María Dolores López, a 58-year-old secretary. .
In that same square, the right and the extreme right mobilized thousands of people in February 2019 and June 2021 to denounce the dialogue process between the government and the Catalan independentists.
The Executive headed by Sánchez governs in a minority and since its formation it has been forced to negotiate with the Catalan or Basque separatists to get laws approved.
