The protest came two days after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez won a four-year term with the backing of Catalan and Basque nationalist parties in exchange for agreeing to the law.
A sea of protesters fills Cibeles Square in Madrid, Spain on November 18, 2023. Photo: Reuters
Protesters waved Spanish flags and held signs criticizing Mr Sanchez, as well as calling for “Don’t Sell Spain”. Authorities put the number of protesters at 170,000.
Alberto Nunez Feijoo, leader of the conservative opposition Popular Party, and Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox Party, also attended the protest organized by civic groups.
After the protest, hundreds of people marched on the motorway near Moncloa Palace, the Spanish Prime Minister's residence in Madrid. The A6 was closed for about an hour but later reopened after police cleared the area.
The amnesty will cover about 400 people involved in the 2017 independence and secession bid. That independence referendum was declared illegal by the courts and led to Spain's worst political crisis in decades.
A large number of police and security forces were mobilized to ensure safety during the protest. Photo: Reuters
According to Spain's CSIC research council, it would be the largest amnesty in Spain since the 1977 general amnesty for crimes committed under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and the first amnesty law approved in the European Union since 1991.
Prime Minister Sanchez, who won a vote in the Spanish parliament to form a new government on Thursday with 179 votes in favour and 171 against, said the amnesty would help ease tensions in Catalonia.
In a Metroscoopia survey in mid-September, about 70% of respondents — 59% of them Socialist Party supporters — said they opposed the idea of amnesty.
Huy Hoang (according to Reuters)
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