MADRID: Thousands of people protested in Madrid on Saturday against Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s leftist government in a rally held in a key election year in Spain that was backed by far-right party Vox.

Participants waved red and yellow Spanish flags and called on Sanchez to resign. Some held up signs with a photo of the Socialist premier calling him a “traitor”.

Around 30,000 people gathered in Madrid’s Cibeles Square for the rally, according to the central government’s delegation in the Spanish capital. Organisers said some 700,000 people had taken part.

The protest was called by dozens of mainly right-leaning civil society groups and backed by conservative parties including the main opposition conservative Popular Party (PP) and Vox.

The right is angered by the government’s decision to abolish the crime of sedition, of which nine separatist leaders were convicted over their role in the Catalonia region’s abortive secession bid in 2017. It was replaced with an offence carrying a lower prison sentence.

Conservatives are also angered by a flagship law against sexual violence that toughened penalties for rape but eased sentences for other sexual crimes. This has set some convicts free after their jail terms were reduced.

Speaking to reporters at the start of the rally, Vox leader Santiago Abascal denounced “the worst government in history” which “has divided Spaniards and freed rapists and coup leaders”. “We need a permanent and massive mobilisation until the autocrat Pedro Sanchez is expelled from power,” he added.

Retired accountant Antonio Orduna, 67, said he was upset the government was “letting those who want to break up Spain off the hook.” He cited the abolishment of the crime of sedition and Sanchez’s 2021 decision topardon the Catalan separatists initially sentenced to between nine and 13 years in prison for their role in the failed secession bid.

Published in Dawn, January 22th, 2023