Tens of thousands of Spaniards demonstrated in Madrid today protesting the possibility of an amnesty for Catalan separatists by Pedro Sanchez in order to remain prime minister, even though the Socialists (PSOE) did not win the recent parliamentary elections.

Carrying Spanish flags, supporters of the conservative People’s Party (PP) arrived from all over Spain for this rally. According to the authorities’ estimates, 40,000 people participated in the demonstration.

Sanchez, whose party came second in the July election, could retain office if former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont supports him. The Catalan party Junts per Catalunya has seven seats in the Spanish parliament. Puigdemont is wanted in Spain for attempted secession and has demanded an end to prosecutions against him and other separatists as a condition for supporting Sanchez.

Alberto Núñez Feijo, the PP leader who won the most votes in the election, has declared that he will never give in to the demand for amnesty for the organizers of the 2017 referendum on Catalan independence. He told the gathering of his supporters today that stopping the criminal prosecution against the separatists would be tantamount to granting amnesty to “would-be coup plotters”.

One protester, 72-year-old pensioner Gregorio Casteneda, traveled from Santander to voice his opposition to the amnesty. “I am not in favor of the government we have. For me, it is a disaster because it will completely divide Spain,” he told Reuters.

Sanchez organized a political rally of his own in Gava, near Barcelona. In his speech he did not mention the issue of amnesty but said that the Socialists want to close the wounds of the division caused by the Catalan crisis. “We’re trying to turn the page,” he said.

In 2021 Sanchez pardoned nine separatists jailed after the referendum, which was ruled illegal by Spanish courts.