The Popular Party succeeded in keeping the pulse on the street in its seventh demonstration against Chief Executive Pedro Sanchez. Sunday’s demonstration, called for noon at the Debod Temple in Madrid after former Socialist Minister José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García were taken into preventive custody, gathered 40,000 people, according to the government delegation – 80,000, according to PP data. Alberto Núñez Viejo again called for early general elections because “Spain cannot stand another day”, appealed to the nationalist partners – whom he accused of “swallowing” the position – and asked the Vox party to abandon “cohesion” with the PSOE against the popular parties, shifting the focus on Sánchez as the person ultimately responsible for the alleged corruption plot. “Four rode that car to come to power, three already know the prison, and one is missing, the head of government,” declared the PP leader, referring to the Peugeot in which Sánchez toured Spain with Abalos, García and Santos Cerdán during the primaries that returned him to the post of General Secretariat of the Socialist Workers Party. Those gathered responded by chanting, “Pedro Sanchez, to prison!”
During his intervention in the protest, which was organized under the slogan “Really, Mafia or Democracy,” the leader of the People’s Party drew a drawing of the parties represented in Congress, and asked them to “portray themselves” in their choice between “corruption or cleanliness.” Naturally, this Sunday did not mention the effective censure motion he had demanded from Junts in recent days. In fact, he did not even explicitly name them this Sunday, a day after Carles Puigdemont’s side closed the door on such a possibility. Referring to the Socialist Workers’ Party, Vigo ventured that socialists would look back on “this phase” of their history “with shame.” He said sarcastically: “First Koldo was the story advisor, then Abalos. What a disappointment.” “Then it would be Cerdan, and soon it will be Sanchez. And I tell them, by then, don’t pretend to be surprised,” the PP leader said.
A state of uncertainty prevailed among People’s Party officials, who warned of the difficulty of achieving a large turnout for the protest that was called only days ago due to the threat of rain. However, the sun finally rose at 11 a.m. and helped attendees fill the perimeter of the Debod Temple in one of the PP’s largest mega-protests, following the largest in Puerta de Sol in November 2023, which brought together about 80,000 citizens, and the protest in Plaza de España in January 2024, with 45,000 participating. In September 2023, in Plaza de Felipe 2, there were also about 40,000 attendees. Figo said in this regard at the beginning of his appearance: “The call for total concentration 48 hours ago could only have been done by the Spanish Popular Party. It was a huge logistical challenge.”
“Sanchismo is in prison”
Protesters on Sunday carried the constitutional flags of Spain, interspersed with some banners from other autonomous regions. The majority of the regional barons of the People’s Party supported this event along with former heads of government Mariano Rajoy and José María Aznar, as well as dozens of deputies, senators and local officials, such as Paco de la Torre, Mayor of Malaga, or María José Catalá, Chancellor of Valencia. Former Vox leader Ivan Espinosa de los Monteros also appeared.
“Sanchismo is in prison and she must leave the government,” Figo shouted to everyone from the white-painted podium with the slogan on it. Elections now It is written in blue, the color of the People’s Party, although the opposition leader and the party itself stressed that it was an action “without shortcuts”. Before an uncomfortable silence, the People’s Party leader paused to send a message to the Vox Party. “We will not agree on everything,” he told them before catching his breath. Three days after concluding the final agreement with the Ultras to install Juan Francisco Pérez Jurca as president of the Valencian Community, he added: “Stop the tongs. I will not make the wrong opponent. Do not make the wrong target, priority or opponent.” “There will be a different tomorrow sooner rather than later in Spain with law, democracy and decency,” the People’s Party leader concluded his speech before the Spanish anthem was played.
Ayuso: “This is how dictatorships begin”
As host of this event, the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, intervened, also sending a message to the investment partners, but in her case alerting to any possibility of future understanding, whether for an effective censure proposal or any other type of agreement. Ayuso stressed, “This mafia will not disintegrate. You are all living off this mafia, and you are all being placed, in public and private companies, in institutions colonized by Sanchez.”
The Madrid leader also called for the maintenance of social tension against the president and once again depicted a state in which an alleged dictatorship is being built step by step through the actions of the coalition government. “Let us not become accustomed to the unnatural, this is how all dictatorships begin,” declared the President of the Community of Madrid. He said: “Let us fight all battles until the end. They are all involved in the corruption mafia that is trying to prevent political circulation. Even if difficult times are coming, let us not look the other way,” amid applause from the audience.
The protest also came days after the state prosecutor, Álvaro García Ortiz, was found guilty of revealing secrets in the case of Ayuso’s friend, whom the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, had specifically presented as “a person persecuted by the state authorities.” The mayor of the capital, like the president of the group, has asserted that Spain presides over, or is already in, a “dictatorship.” “We must vote at the ballot box,” Martinez-Almeida said. General elections are scheduled to be held in 2027, when the four-year term specified by the constitution expires. “This government does not respect democracy or the 1978 Constitution. It denies us the ability to go to vote,” the mayor insisted.
“I want freedom”
The protest was preceded by songs by DJ Pulpo, who usually livens up PP events and who has played the film’s soundtrack on several occasions. The godfather. Among those gathered was Pilar Quibo, a 66-year-old from Madrid, who learned of the call on the radio and confirmed that she had attended other protests organized by Popular Protests.
He says: “I do not believe in anything in this government. I want freedom and for them to call us to the ballot boxes. I hope that justice will be achieved.” And with her, Andres Alcubierre, a 27-year-old originally from Huesca, although he lives in Madrid, came on Sunday because “we must demonstrate against the corruption” of the PSOE. This lawyer estimates, saying: “This government cannot be saying that it supports social rights, while it is corrupt, especially since there is already a ruling.”