BARCELONA: Spain’s right-wing leaders lambasted plans to grant Catalan separatists an amnesty in exchange for supporting a new left-wing government at a Barcelona rally that drew tens of thousands.

King Felipe VI charged Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez this week with forming a new government, for which he needs crucial support from a hardline Catalan separatist party.

In exchange, the party has demanded an amnesty for those facing legal action over Catalonia’s failed 2017 independence bid which triggered Spain’s worst political crisis in decades. The proposal has enraged the right which says amnesty cannot be used as a bargaining chip for Sanchez to remain in power.

Huge crowds waving Spanish and Catalan flags flooded Barcelona city centre for the rally called by Societat Civil Catalana (SCC) which is opposed to the northeastern region breaking away from Spain.

Spain has been mired in political uncertainty since an inconclusive July election that was won by the right-wing Popular Party but without enough support to form a government, with leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo failing a key September vote to become premier.

Now it’s Sanchez’s turn and his Socialists and their hard-left Sumar allies support the idea of granting the amnesty demanded by JxCat, whose leader Carles Puigdemont led the 2017 secession bid then fled Spain to avoid prosecution and would benefit from the move. The idea is anathema to the right for whom Puigdemont is public enemy number one and also a red line for some within Sanchez’s Socialist party. “No amnesty!” and “Send Puigdemont to prison!” shouted the demonstrators, who numbered more than 50,000, Barcelona police said. Organisers gave a figure of 300,000.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2023