Lorraine Williamson
The leader of the Partido Popular, Feijóo, called on Prime Minister Sánchez to call early elections during protests in Madrid on Sunday. A sea of red and European flags engulfed the Puerta de Alcalá in the Spanish capital and spread to the Plaza de Cibeles.
The warm weather on Sunday did not discourage the Partido Popular from calling for protests against Sánchez, to get the campaign for the European elections on track and to revive social unrest against the amnesty law, which will be definitively approved in Congress next Thursday.
Early elections
Alberto Núñez Feijóo has convened the legislature and asked Sánchez to bring forward the general election for the first time in months. The continuity of the current government is “untenable”, especially after the latest parliamentary defeats. Feijóo added to his list of demands that Sánchez “should repeal the amnesty law. Let’s put an end to it,” he said to applause and cheers from the thousands of people gathered in the capital.
Truth, freedom and democracy
“Let’s go for the truth first, for freedom and democracy. We have to speak up, because Sánchez has deceived us all,” he reiterated. The mobilisation against Sánchez was at the centre of Feijóo’s speech, which called for the European elections to be “the largest demonstration ever to take place in Spain” so that the “reaction” to Sánchez “is heard throughout Europe.”
“They want to silence us because we think differently,” Feijóo continued, “But that won’t happen,” he proclaimed. The PP knows well that the European elections on June 9 could be “decisive” due to its national character, and it is “between Sánchez or Spain”.
Demonstration
The demonstration was supposed to start at 12 noon, but the Puerta de Alcalá started filling up an hour earlier. As usual at PP events and protests, DJ Pulpo provided entertainment, while the organisers handed out Spanish and European flags to the attendees. The event lasted about an hour and a half. Feijóo closed the event, but before him, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, Isabel Díaz Ayuso and the philosopher Fernando Savater spoke. María Corina Machado, leader of the Venezuelan opposition and disqualified by the regime of Nicolás Maduro, also delivered her message. Ayuso used her speech to compare Spain to Venezuela because of Sánchez’s intention to control the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the Supreme Court and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. “They want to divide the media in order to control public opinion,” continued Ayuso, who also described RTVE as “the regime’s press”.
Slogans Milei
Unlike Feijóo, who sidestepped the diplomatic conflict with Argentina, in Madrid Ayuso indirectly defended Javier Milei by using some of his slogans at the People’s Party event. “Long live freedom, of course!” she said three times. It wasn’t the only nod to the Argentine president. “We are alive, happy and brave to fight the battles we have to fight every day,” she continued.
Aid to PP
The regional delegations, without exception, have responded to the call to come to Madrid for the protests. The only exception was María Guardiola from Extremadura, who is still recovering from the blood poisoning she contracted a few days ago. Mariano Rajoy and José María Aznar were also present, although they did not actively participate on this occasion.