The Popular Party has managed to keep the pulse on the street in its seventh demonstration against the Executive of Pedro Sánchez. This Sunday’s protest, called at noon at the Debod Temple in Madrid after the entry, has brought together 40,000 people, according to the Government delegation – 80,000, according to PP data. Alberto Núñez Feijóo has once again demanded early general elections because “Spain cannot take another day”, he has appealed to the nationalist partners – whom he has accused of “swallowing to keep” the position –, he has asked Vox to abandon the “clamp” with the PSOE against the popular ones and has put the focus on Sánchez as the ultimate person responsible for the alleged corruption plot. “Four took that car to come to power and three already know jail, one is missing, the President of the Government,” proclaimed the leader of the PP in reference to the Peugeot vehicle in which Sánchez toured Spain with Ábalos, García and Santos Cerdán during the primaries that returned him the General Secretariat of the PSOE. That phrase from Feijóo has been responded to by those gathered shouting “Pedro Sánchez, to prison!”
During his intervention at the protest, organized under the motto “Indeed, mafia or democracy”, the leader of the PP made a drawing of the parties represented in Congress, which he demanded to “portrait themselves” in their decision between “corruption or cleanliness”. Of course, he has not mentioned this Sunday. In fact, he has not even expressly named them this Sunday, one day after the formation of Carles Puigdemont. In his reference to the PSOE, Feijóo has ventured that the socialists will look at “this stage” of their history “with shame.” “First it was Koldo, who was an anecdotal advisor, then it was Ábalos, what a disappointment,” he said ironically. “Then it was Cerdán and soon it will be Sánchez. And I tell them, by then don’t feign surprise,” the PP leader remarked.
Uncertainty had set in among PP officials, in a protest called only days in advance and due to the threat of rain. However, the sun finally rose at 11 in the morning and helped attendees fill the vicinity of the Temple of Debod in one of the most massive protests of the PP, after the largest held in Puerta de Sol in November 2023, which brought together some 80,000 citizens, and the one in Plaza de España in January 2024, with 45,000. In September 2023, in the Plaza de Felipe II, there were also about 40,000 attendees. “Calling a macro-concentration 48 hours in advance can only be done by the Popular Party of Spain, it was a big logistical challenge,” Feijóo said in this regard at the beginning of his appearance.
“Sanchismo is in jail”
This Sunday’s protesters carried constitutional flags of Spain, dotted with some banners from other autonomous communities. The majority of regional barons of the PP have supported the event along with the former presidents of the 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 Málaga, or María José Catalá, councilor of Valencia. The former leader of Vox Iván Espinosa de los Monteros has also appeared.
“The Sanchismo is in jail and has to leave the Government,” Feijóo shouted at everyone from the tribune, painted white with the motto Elections now written in blue, the color of the PP, although both the head of the opposition and the party itself have stressed that it was an act “without acronyms.” Preceded by an uncomfortable silence, the leader of the PP has stopped to send a message to Vox. “We are not going to agree on everything,” he told them before taking a breath. “Stop with tweezers. I’m not going to make the wrong opponent. Don’t make the wrong objective or priority or adversary,” he added three days after sealing the last pact with the ultras for the investiture of Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca as president of the Valencian Community. “There will be a different tomorrow sooner rather than later in Spain with the law, with democracy and with decency,” the head of the PP concluded before playing the Spanish anthem.
Ayuso: “This is how dictatorships begin”
As host of the event, the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, intervened, and also sent a message to the investiture partners, but laminating in her case any possibility of a future understanding, whether for an instrumental motion of censure or another type of agreement. “This mafia is not going to break up. You all live off that mafia, you are all placed, in public and private companies, in institutions colonized by Sánchez,” Ayuso assured.
The Madrid leader has also asked to maintain social tension against the president and has once again painted a country in which an alleged dictatorship is being built step by step with the actions of the coalition government. “Let’s not get used to what is not normal, this is how all dictatorships begin,” proclaimed the president of the Community of Madrid. “Let’s fight all the battles until the end. They are all subscribers to a mafia of corruption that tries to prevent political alternation. Even if very difficult times are coming, let’s not look the other way,” he claimed, unleashing applause from those in attendance.
The protest also took place days after the conviction of the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, for revealing secrets in the case of Ayuso’s boyfriend, whom the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has presented precisely as a “person persecuted by the powers of the State.” The mayor of the capital, like the president of the Community, has reiterated that Spain is headed, or is already, a “dictatorship.” “We should be voting in a ballot box,” said Martínez-Almeida. The general elections are scheduled for 2027, when the four-year mandate established by the Constitution will expire. “This Government does not respect democracy or the 1978 Constitution. It denies us being able to go to vote,” the mayor insisted.
“I want freedom”
The protest has been preceded by the songs of Dj Pulpo, who usually enlivens the PP events and who has played the film’s soundtrack on several occasions. The Godfather. Among those gathered was Pilar Queipo, a 66-year-old from Madrid, who found out about the call on the radio and assures that she has attended the other protests organized by the popular ones.
“I don’t believe anything in this Government, I want freedom and that they call us to the polls. I have hope that justice will be done,” he says. Along with her, Andrés Alcubierre, 27 years old and originally from Huesca, although living in Madrid, came this Sunday because “we must demonstrate against the corruption” of the PSOE. “It cannot be that this Government says that it supports social rights, but is corrupt, especially since there is already a sentence,” this lawyer appreciates.
