Among a wave of Spanish flags (some also from the PP and an isolated one from Vox), the president of the Popular Party, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, called on critics of Pedro Sánchez to "demonstrate with facts" their opposition to the amnesty and the pacts with the pro-independence parties. In a déjà vu of what already happened in the days before the vote for the investiture of Feijóo himself, the leader of the PP regretted that no socialist says enough: "If they only talk and don't prove it with facts, that equates them to Sánchez", he emphasized, trying to crack the seams of the socialists. The investiture is approaching and the tension is increasing in the ranks of one and the other.
Valencia, which has returned to being a stronghold for the popular after the municipal and regional elections, turned out yesterday – 20,000 people, according to the organizers, 10,000, according to the Government Delegation – to shout against the amnesty in a tense atmosphere and with harsh messages against the president of the Spanish Government, the independence supporters and the left in general. "Puigdemont, in prison!" it was the slogan that resonated most strongly in Plaça d'els Furs (the Valencian laws abolished after the conquest of Felipe V), but there were also demands for prison for the leader of the PSOE, who was accused of being a traitor . After the rally, there were those who insisted, megaphone in hand, called to move to the headquarters of the Socialist Party, emulating the climate of tension that has been experienced in the capital of Spain these days in front of the headquarters of Ferraz, with the ex-president of Madrid Esperanza Aguirre among the agitators.
In this context, Feijóo was careful when measuring his words to combine the idea of "defending Spain from the streets" without questioning the institutions. "They will be in front of us", "we will be in the streets next to the majority" of Spaniards, were some of his phrases to make it clear that his party "will not let a single one pass" to Sánchez.
In this sense, he indicated that the PP will fight for "the equality of all Spaniards" from the town councils, the autonomous communities, the Senate, the Congress (where he recalled that they are the majority group after winning the elections), all instances courts and European institutions. "They will be in front of us", he emphasized.
There was even a moment when the leader of the PP took Sánchez's investiture for granted, but he quickly reassured the attendees: "His presidency will be nothing, but Spain will continue." And it is that Feijóo was convinced that the PP is a party "that governs when it wins and that accepts to be in the opposition" even though it won the elections, which is why he stated that he will "never move away from respect for institutions".
And it is that, yesterday, in Valencia - by the way, the region where the socialist militancy most widely endorsed the agreements for the investiture - the forcefulness of the messages was hyperbolic to the point that the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, did not he hesitated to call to defend Spain "with the nails" - "with the teeth", added the Valencian president, Carlos Mazón - after assuring that "the left cannot go down the street with its head held high".
