The protests against the pacts of the PSOE with the Catalan independentists, which include an amnesty to the ‘procés’ and the forgiveness of 15,000 million euros to the Generalitat, returned to the streets of Madrid this Saturday. For the ninth consecutive night, there were demonstrations next to the socialist headquarters, on Ferraz Street, although with less attendance than other days: 1,700 people, according to the Government Delegation. In addition, a call from the civil organization of the Democratic Junta together with the Congress of Deputies gathered 500 citizens and, around nine at night, a group began to install a twenty stores campaign with the intention of protesting “indefinitely. Sources from the Government Delegation warned that the agents would force them to clear the public roads shortly. The eviction came three hours later, at midnight.
In Ferraz, like other previous nights, the police had to charge against the protesters who tried to overcome the barriers that prevented them from reaching the PSOE building. There were 14 detainees, three of them minors. In Congress, the tenor was very different. Democratic Junta read a manifest in which he asked “stop the current legal arbitrariness” in reference to the amnesty agreed by Pedro Sánchez with Junts and ERC. Between the two protests (Ferraz and the Congress), 2.5 kilometers, including a good part of Gran Vía, where hundreds of people entered and left the theaters and restaurants, as if they lived in a parallel reality.
“We are going to stay until they throw us out”, said one of the young women on Congress Street while taking one of the mats that the organization was handing out. A member of the Democratic Junta security team took pains to highlight the “absence of shouting”, “insults” and “violence” of the call and explained that, throughout the afternoon, several people who were hooded had been invited to leave the rally.
“They have been cheating for 40 years, with a cheating law and a cheating regime,” shouted the president of the Democratic JuntaRuben Gisbert, who regretted that Congress is used by the parties “to hide and make their pacts, dividing the money, the future, the nation and now the identity of Spain.” While his colleagues sat on the mats, standing, Gisbert (for some ‘influencer’) He smoked a cigar like Winston Churchill’s.
Global insults
The protest on Ferraz Street began to take shape around seven in the afternoon. The convener, like the last few days, had been Vox. At that time, the profile of the protesters was older and middle-aged, and also many couples with children who attended, while running with their scooter and bicycle, the usual chants of these days. “Sánchez, you are a son of a bitch”, “Up to the balls, you have us down to the balls,” “Fucking red is anyone who doesn’t vote.” and “Let Txapote vote for you.” Everything falls short to ‘putodefender’ Spain. Only occasionally were there slogans referring to the independence of Catalonia: “Puigdemont, to the van” and “Catalonia is Spain”, were the two main ones.
As on the previous eight nights, the police closed adjacent streets to traffic and shielded the PSOE headquarters so that the protesters could not get close. When dozens of them tried to overcome the fences, the charges occurred.
Fourteen arrested
At nine at night, the type of protester had already changed in the Ferraz area. The older people and families with children left and young people began to arrive, many with beer cans in hand. The first police charges occurred 45 minutes later, after some vandals had thrown objects and firecrackers and tried to overcome the police barrier.
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According to provisional data from the Government Delegation in Madrid, At half past eleven at night, the National Police had arrested 14 people, 13 for public disorder and one for attacking authority. Three of those arrested were minors.
This Sunday, the expression of discontent over the amnesty will continue in the streets early in the morning. The PP has called for protests at noon in the capitals of the 52 Spanish provinces. Vox has encouraged its supporters to attend.