Thousands of people demonstrate in Spain against the amnesty law in Catalonia

Thousands of people protested across Spain this Sunday against Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s plans to grant an amnesty to Catalan separatists in exchange for support for another term. Over the course of several weeks, the Spaniards organized several demonstrations.

The Spanish People’s Party (PP, right) estimated the number of participants in the demonstrations it called for this Sunday in 52 cities at two million, with the largest demonstration taking place in Madrid, where PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, was present, and, according to the party, one million people visited it, more than the 80 thousand claimed by the government delegation.

The agreement sparked protests across the country, with Sanchez’s conservative opponents accusing him of undermining the rule of law for his own political gain.

Pedro Sanchez, justifies the approval of the amnesty law in Catalonia by the need to strengthen the reunification of Spain and Catalonia.

Negotiations between Pedro Sanchez, leader of the PSpain’s Socialist Party (PSOE) and former Catalan regional government president Carles Puigdemont, Together for Catalonia (JxCat), struck an agreement within weeks, concluding an agreement on Thursday.

The agreement includes an amnesty for those who participated in Catalonia’s attempt at self-determination, which culminated in a unilateral declaration of independence in 2017 under the leadership of Puigdemont, who has lived in Belgium since that year to escape Spanish justice.

President of the Spanish People’s Party (PP, right) Alberto Nunez Feijoo said that amnesties are usually carried out due to “times when freedoms are not guaranteed or there is no democratic legal system”, which is not the case in Spain, where the Constitution and laws are “homologated to the laws of European democratic countries.” RHe also said he considered the amnesty law an “aberration from the norm.”