In Madrid, thousands of demonstrators march to demand the resignation of Pedro Sanchez

Several tens of thousands of people gathered in Madrid on Sunday at the call of right-wing parties to demand the resignation of socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and early general elections.

Some 25,000 people participated in this demonstration, according to central government services in the region, while the organizers put forward the figure of 400,000 demonstrators.

Waving red and yellow Spanish flags, demonstrators massed in Plaza de Castille, calling for the resignation of Pedro Sanchez, whom they described as a “traitor”.

More than a hundred groups called for this demonstration, with the support of the Popular Party (PP, conservative right), the main opposition party and the far-right party Vox, under the slogan “For unity, dignity, law and freedom. General elections now!”.

“This government is ruining the Spaniards”

The speakers denounced a series of decisions taken by the government, such as the amnesty granted to those involved in the attempted secession of Catalonia in exchange for the support of Catalan separatists in the Madrid parliament, the pacts concluded with the Catalan and Basque separatist parties , and mentioned the investigations for corruption and influence peddling targeting figures of the Socialist party and the wife of Pedro Sanchez Begona Gomez.

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The demonstrators held up signs with inscriptions like “Sanchez destroys Spain” and slogans against immigration. Vox leader Santiago Abascal, the only party leader to participate in the demonstration, told the press that “this government is ruining the Spaniards, it betrayed them, it lied to them during the elections”.

“Today the Spaniards, whatever the government says, are poorer than when Pedro Sanchez came to power. It’s harder for them to make ends meet.”continued the far-right leader, also accusing the government of Pedro Sanchez “to bring more illegal immigration”.

Pedro Sanchez, in office since 2018, leads a fragile government minority which depends on the votes of the Catalan and Basque separatist parties in parliament to pass laws. His concessions to these parties make the right bristle.