The pact initialed yesterday between the PSOE and Junts in Brussels revived the protests around the national headquarters of the Socialists, in Carrer de Ferraz in Madrid. Thousands of people, around 8,000, according to the Government Delegation, gathered in front of an important police deployment amid shouts of "Puigdemont in prison" and "Sánchez traitor".
At 10 p.m., the first firecrackers began to be heard and the shouts against the National Police officers intensified, who took positions to charge after several hooded youths threw flares and stones at the riot police. Support police vans arrived and were greeted to the sound of "that dairy, at the border".
Last night, the same pattern of action that police intelligence sources warned about was repeated. Neo-Nazi and far-right groups that infiltrate demonstrations to "break up" the protest with the sole purpose of violence for violence's sake.
The National Police has identified members of Bastión Frontal, Hacer Nación or Skin Retiro, who are going to these protests. The Government Delegation warns that there will be arrests in the coming days.
In fact, just yesterday, in the confrontation with the National Police, there were already some arrests among young people who threw objects and flares at the officers.
At 10:45 p.m., the races began with the police trying to disperse the demonstrators who were still concentrated in the area. The clashes spread to the adjacent streets from that time, when the demonstrators threw containers in the middle of the street.
The demonstration started yesterday at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Madrid. Revuelta, the youth front that is being sponsored by far-right leaders, called for the rally with other organizations such as Libertad sin Ira, Pie en Pared, S'ha Acabat!, Neos and Voces Libres. About 1,500 people gathered at the doors of the European headquarters to protest against the eventual amnesty law, which is expected to be registered in the Congress of Deputies next week. "Europe, stop the amnesty", was the slogan.
In their interventions, the convenors asked the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to "look after Spanish democracy". After half an hour of protest, the demonstrators warned: "Another night, in Ferraz". And so it was.
Hundreds of people crossed the Passeig de la Castellana, where the seat of the European Parliament in Spain is located, and started the journey – about 50 minutes on foot – to the vicinity of Ferraz, at the same intersection with the street Marquesas de Urquijo, in which the protests had been called the previous six nights. There, minutes before the arrival of the march, the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, had presented himself, who was greeted with shouts of "Long live Spain" and "President, president".
The ultra leader - who described the shooting of Alejo Vidal-Quadras as an "attempt", despite the fact that the main hypothesis with which the investigators are working is his relationship with the Iranian opposition - assured that the pact "is the biggest attack on the unity of Spain in the entire democratic period". Some of the attendees shouted "Alejo we are all", referring to one of the founders of Vox.
But they weren't the only chants: between whistles and cassolades, you could also hear "The Bourbons to the sharks", "Felipe, traitor, defend your nation", "Peperos traídors, sou un masons". The classic "Spanish press, manipulative" was not missing. At one point, shouts of "national uprising" could be heard, before the whistles of the rest of the congregants.
The tension grew from 9:30 p.m. After throwing several objects at the officers of the Police Intervention Unit guarding the fence, the riot police began to put on their helmets.
As happened on Tuesday night, in which there were six arrested and around 40 injured, several groups of young people with their faces covered took up positions at the front of the rally. As the atmosphere continued to tense, many of the demonstrators left the protest, and they met again today.
In this escalation, yesterday the leader of the PSOE of Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz) and first deputy mayor, Víctor Mora, was attacked with the cry of "traitor" yesterday, in the middle of a public street, when he was preparing to enter the City Hall of Sanlúcar. The alleged perpetrator, a fellow citizen who ended up being reported and arrested, pushed him on the back and in this way made him fall to the ground.
