MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tuesday Spanish congress votes on amnesty for Catalan separatist leaders, massive protests

Demonstrators held numerous Spanish and EU flags, but also as placards reading “No to amnesty” and “Sanchez traitor,” in reference to president Pedro Sánchez of the center-left PSOE party

Some 50,000 people, according to police estimates, gathered in the Spanish capital Madrid on Sunday to reject a fragile coalition government proposed amnesty for Catalan separatists.

The rally which concentrated in Plaza de España was organized by the opposition party, Partido Popular and included the current leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, former PM Mariano Rajoy and the president of Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.

Demonstrators held numerous Spanish and EU flags, but also as placards reading “No to amnesty” and “Sanchez traitor,” in reference to president Pedro Sánchez of the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) party.

Nuñez Feijoo has said that a majority in the country rejects the amnesty deal and during the rally, he addressed supporters, saying that “nobody will force a country on us that we have not voted for.”

Sanchez's government won a vote of confidence in parliament last November for another four-year term, following a snap election that took place in July. The conservatives had a few more votes but were unable to form a government, which Sánchez did on promises of perks for a few small parties and a major controversial amnesty bill for Catalan leaders involved in a failed 2017 secession bid.

The bill will be considered in Spain's lower house of Parliament on Tuesday and if approved, the law would block legal action against hundreds of Catalan activists who are being investigated or have been charged for their role in the attempted declaration of an independent Catalan state in 2017.