Tens of thousands of people are expected to turn out on the streets of Barcelona on Sunday to protest against a controversial amnesty the Spanish government is negotiating for Catalan independence leaders.
Acting prime minister Pedro Sánchez is considering the amnesty measure as he seeks to secure the parliamentary support of Catalan nationalist parties, which would allow him to form a new government in the coming weeks.
Mr Sánchez’s Socialist Party was runner-up in July’s general election, behind the conservative Popular Party (PP). However, last month PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo failed to become prime minister when he lost an investiture vote. Following constitutional protocol, King Felipe has invited Mr Sánchez to attempt to form a government, which he must do by November 27th, otherwise another election will be triggered.
Mr Sánchez, who has been prime minister since 2018, wants to form a coalition administration with the Sumar left-wing alliance and, to win an investiture, he also needs support from Basque and Catalan nationalists.
Donald Trump’s return adds urgency and uncertainty to third winter of full Russia-Ukraine war
Matt Gaetz perched on the tightrope between political glory and infamy
Vote on assisted dying Bill due to be a cliffhanger as Britain’s Labour opposition mounts
China may be better prepared for Trump this time
The pro-independence Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (JxCat) parties have demanded an amnesty for all those still facing legal action for their role in a failed bid for secession in 2017. Among them is Carles Puigdemont, the former Catalan president who fled to Belgium in the wake of that episode, where he has remained to escape the Spanish justice system.
On Thursday, Mr Sánchez acknowledged for the first time – albeit tacitly – that he was in talks over a possible amnesty, by saying “we are negotiating with different parties” when asked about the issue.
As well as the amnesty, ERC and JxCat have called on Mr Sánchez “to work to make possible the conditions for the holding of a referendum [on independence]”. The Socialist leader has flatly ruled out allowing such a vote, suggesting talks with the nationalist parties will be difficult.
Sunday’s demonstration is being organised by Catalan Civil Society (SCC), a unionist group associated with the political right which became prominent during the territorial crisis of 2017. The slogan of the protest is “Not in my name: neither amnesty nor self-determination”.
“Six years ago the [Catalan] nationalist regime used institutions to break the constitutional order and social peace,” said SCC. “The crimes did not go unpunished because democracy applied the mechanisms to restore legality. The amnesty would mean the collapse of the rule of law.”
The PP and the far-right Vox have taken a similar stance against the amnesty proposal, claiming that Mr Sánchez is undermining the constitutional order and Spain’s territorial unity in order to cling on to power.
Several veteran figures in his own Socialist Party have also criticised the measure.
“How can we accept someone raping 40 million Spaniards?” asked Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, the Socialist former president of the Extremadura region. “Because anyone who violates the constitution is raping me.”
A poll published last month by the news site Vozpópuli said 70 per cent of voters of the main parties would prefer a repeat election to an amnesty.
When asked about the possible measure this week, Mr Sánchez referred to a pardon his government issued for nine jailed independence leaders in 2021 and which he said had contributed “to the stabilisation of politics in Catalonia”. He and his allies argue that an amnesty would go further to ease tensions in the region by removing a major nationalist grievance.
It is still not clear who exactly would benefit from an amnesty beyond Mr Puigdemont and a handful of others who remain in self-exile. However, the Catalan organisation Òmnium Cultural says there are 1,432 nationalists who have either already been convicted or sanctioned for activity linked to the independence bid of 2017 and its fallout or who are still facing legal proceedings.
While Mr Sánchez and his Socialist ministers have been discreet about introducing a possible amnesty, which would need the approval of parliament, his allies in Sumar have been more forthright on the issue.
“We are going to achieve peaceful coexistence and unity and end a conflict which we should never have got into,” said deputy prime minister Yolanda Díaz, of Sumar, who met Mr Puigdemont in Belgium last month. She has accused those on the right of seeking to “set Catalonia alight” with events such as the Barcelona demonstration.