{"id":168106,"date":"2025-06-08T17:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T17:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/168106\/"},"modified":"2025-06-08T17:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T17:13:11","slug":"thousands-protest-in-madrid-against-pedro-sanchezs-government-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/168106\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands protest in Madrid against Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u2019s government | Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tens of thousands of people have gathered in central Madrid to protest against the government of Spain\u2019s socialist prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/a>, and to demand an early general election, as his party, his administration and his family continue to be beset by a succession of corruption allegations.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s protest, called by the opposition conservative People\u2019s party (PP) under the slogan \u201cmafia or democracy\u201d, attracted between 45,000 and 50,000 people, according to the central government\u2019s delegation to the region. Organisers put the attendance at 100,000.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez\u2019s government and his inner circle have faced a series of corruption allegations over the past year. Pressure on his Spanish Socialist Workers\u2019 party (PSOE) has increased over recent days after a former member of the party was accused of trying to wage a smear campaign against the Guardia Civil police unit investigating the prime minister\u2019s wife, Bego\u00f1a G\u00f3mez, his brother, David S\u00e1nchez, and the former transport minister Jos\u00e9 Luis \u00c1balos.<\/p>\n

Leire D\u00edaz, who resigned from the PSOE after recordings were leaked in which she appeared to offer judicial leniency in return for compromising information on senior members of the unit, has denied working on behalf of the prime minister or the party, saying she was researching a book on corruption.<\/p>\n

As demonstrators congregated in the midday heat of the Plaza de Espa\u00f1a, carrying placards bearing messages such as \u201cS\u00e1nchez traitor\u201d and \u201cgovernment resign\u201d, the PP\u2019s leader, Alberto N\u00fa\u00f1ez Feij\u00f3o, renewed his call for a snap election.<\/p>\n

The People\u2019s party leader, Alberto N\u00fa\u00f1ez Feij\u00f3o, speaking in the Plaza de Espa\u00f1a. Photograph: Thomas Coex\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain needs a revolution of decency and freedom \u2013 and we will lead that revolution from the streets and at the ballot boxes,\u201d he told the crowd. \u201cMr S\u00e1nchez, stop hiding, stop lying and stop running. Spain<\/a> knows only too well who you are and what you have done. Yield to democracy. Call an election: we want one now because no one voted for this, not even your supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prime minister has accused his political and media opponents of conducting a \u201charassment and bullying operation\u201d<\/a> against him and his wife, arguing that false allegations levelled at her are designed to bring about his \u201cpersonal and political collapse\u201d.<\/p>\n

G\u00f3mez is being investigated for alleged corruption and influence peddling after a complaint by the pressure group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), a self-styled trade union with far-right links that has a long history of using the courts to pursue political targets. Manos Limpias has accused G\u00f3mez of using her influence<\/a> as the wife of the prime minister to secure sponsors for a university master\u2019s degree course that she ran. S\u00e1nchez has described the case against his wife as baseless and \u201can ugly fit-up driven by the far-right groups behind the complaint\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, David S\u00e1nchez is facing trial over allegations of influence peddling and other offences in a case that also began with accusations from Manos Limpias and other groups. He denies the charges.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez\u2019s administration has also been facing questions since it emerged in February last year that an assistant to \u00c1balos, once a close ally and confidant of the prime minister, had been arrested on suspicion of taking payments to facilitate contracts for face masks during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the PP, which was ousted from government<\/a> seven years ago after a series of corruption scandals, is itself under scrutiny on several fronts, not least over its handling of the deadly floods<\/a> last year in Valencia, one of the regions it governs.<\/p>\n

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Isabel D\u00edaz Ayuso, the populist PP president of the Madrid region \u2013 and one of the prime minister\u2019s most vocal critics \u2013 is facing continuing questions over her government\u2019s Covid protocols after more than 7,200 people died in the region\u2019s care homes during the early stages of the pandemic. She has also been forced to defend her relationship with her partner<\/a>, Alberto Gonz\u00e1lez Amador, after judges began investigating his business dealings.<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez Amador is under investigation for a variety of alleged offences and has been charged with two counts of tax fraud and one of document forgery in connection to fees he charged a company that imported face masks during the pandemic. Ayuso has said her partner has been targeted by \u201call the powers of the state\u201d purely because of his relationship with her, while a member of her administration recently said the \u201cpresumption of innocence should be respected\u201d.<\/p>\n

The government attempted to play down the protests, dismissing them as a sign of the PP\u2019s desperation.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s pugnacious transport minister, \u00d3scar Puente, posted aerial pictures showing the plaza far from full, while the digital transformation minister, \u00d3scar L\u00f3pez, said the protest had been called to distract attention from Feij\u00f3o\u2019s underperforming leadership and from Ayuso\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really nervous,\u201d L\u00f3pez wrote on X. \u201cBecause they\u2019ve filled the Plaza de Espa\u00f1a with insults but not with people \u2026 While they sling mud, we move forwards.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tens of thousands of people have gathered in central Madrid to protest against the government of Spain\u2019s socialist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-168106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114648868905256764","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}