Tens of thousands of people on Saturday gathered outside Plaza de Cibeles square in Madrid to protest the highly controversial amnesty deal for Catalonia’s separatists that Pedro Sánchez agreed to in return for vital support to get elected prime minister again.JUANJO MARTIN (EFE)Spain’s inconclusive national elections on July 23 left a highly fractured parliament. The center-right Popular Party received the most votes in the elections but failed to get enough support to form a government because of its alliances with the far-right Vox party.Diego Radamés (Europa Press)The leader of the Popular Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo (center) and other PP leaders took part in the demonstration in Madrid.Jaime Villanueva
Several protesters waved banners with the image of Miguel Angel Blanco, a lawmaker assassinated by ETA in 1997. FERNANDO ALVARADO (EFE)The amnesty deal that Sánchez’s Socialists signed with two key Catalan separatist parties that command 14 votes would clean the slate for hundreds of Catalan separatists in legal trouble following the northeast region’s illegal 2017 secession bid that sparked Spain’s biggest crisis in decades.Jaime VillanuevaThe amnesty law would benefit former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont, who is a fugitive from Spanish law and considered public enemy No. 1 by many Spaniards.FERNANDO ALVARADO (EFE)
The leader of the far-right Vox, Santiago Abascal, also took part in Saturday's protest.JAVIER SORIANO (AFP)Saturday's demonstration comes after days of street protests — including one attended by U.S. conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson.SUSANA VERA (REUTERS)(l-r) PP leaders Elías Bendodo, Cuca Gamarra, Rafael Hernando and Estebán González Pons at the demonstration on Saturday in Madrid.Jaime Villanueva
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