At the intersection of Gran Vía and Alcalá Street, Paco holds a sign, which appears to be made with AI, in which Pedro Sánchez appears behind bars and reads: "Feijóo, when is the motion and when is the betrayal?" The demonstration that thousands of people supported today in Madrid was intended to be a show of unity of all those who demand elections for the President of the Government and censure his actions, his politics and the cases of corruption that surround him. Chants of "Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta defends itself" and "Pedro Sánchez to prison" were shared by everyone. However, and although both PP and Vox as well as all the satellites of the conservative space have supported it, the call has shown that significant differences still persist between the Spanish right.
Santiago Abascal himself was in charge of putting it on the table first thing in the morning, before the march even got underway. After pronouncing his usual criticisms of the Executive, going as far as calling Sánchez a "servant of the King of Morocco", the Vox leader has reproached the PP for "continuing not to accept" his proposal "for a joint government in Ceuta to confront the invasion." And, also, that he does not support his claim to "denounce the betrayal in Congress and seat Sánchez on the bench of the Supreme Court." "I honestly don't understand it," Abascal said, thus censuring the popular refusal to ask the President of the Government for an investigation for this reason.
The manifesto of this Saturday's demonstration, called by Spanish Civil Society - a platform that brings together organizations from the entire spectrum of the right -, calls for the "beginning without further delay" of the process "to try the President of the Government for treason and for attacking the security of the State." But just because the PP has supported the march does not mean that it supports this, as the party's general secretary, Miguel Tellado, clarified upon his arrival at the rally. "The manifesto is their manifesto," he pointed out when asked by journalists, wanting to point out, of course, that the PP "is with them, with that majority of Spaniards who are demanding elections now."
"There is a general feeling that the Government has not acted responsibly, there has been a dereliction of functions, maximum negligence," he elaborated, but without speaking of "betrayal." And so, regarding that possibility, Tellado has settled: "At this time there are proceedings open in the National Court and we trust in the action of justice."
The popular leader, Genoa's top official present at the march, arrived when the rally had already covered a good part of Gran Vía. Abascal was a few meters ahead, surrounded by dozens of citizens who intermixed chants of "national priority" with recurring insults to the president. Clara, a woman who was demonstrating with her daughter, although she recognized that the disqualifications "are not right," justified them in some way: "In the face of indignation and helplessness, something inside comes out...".
That hard line is maintained among the protesters when it comes to accusations against the government. The text of the call speaks of a "growing suspicion that the Government is preparing an electoral coup through tortious maneuvers", something that does not sound far-fetched to the attendees. "Of course he is capable," said an older man between chants against the chief executive, and pointed out that he will do it "in the way he can." "Probably, coming from Pedro Sánchez, it wouldn't surprise me at all," said Gala, a young woman from Barcelona who came with her friend Natalia "because of Ceuta." Both of them, draped in Spanish flags.
None of them knew that this afternoon there was another demonstration in the streets of Madrid to demand the right to housing. "It's a shame, as young people we don't have the option of becoming independent," they lament, but at the moment they don't intend to attend the 'other' concentration. Neither does Cristina, also young, who accuses the Government of "not having done anything" with housing, although she says she is not opposed to evictions: "A house for rent is not our house." "It's manipulated," says another woman about the problem of difficult access to a home.
