In Spain, the far right manifests to denounce the management of the Covid-19 crisis

"Sanchez, resignation", "Freedom" ... Thousands of Spaniards demonstrated on Saturday, May 23, in a car in the major cities of the country, at the call of the far-right party Vox. They denounce the management of the Covid-19 crisis by the government of Pedro Sanchez (left).

In Madrid, hundreds of cars and two-wheelers adorned with Spanish flags rolling at a pace traveled around noon (10 a.m. GMT) the main avenues of the center of the capital, in a concert of horns, led by demonstrators carrying in large majority of masks.

The demonstrations, convened by Vox in around fifty cities, also took place in Barcelona, ​​Seville, Malaga, Valencia, Cordoba or Bilbao, among others.

The government "has been unable to protect its people, their elders and their carers," said Vox leader Santiago Abascal, who was perched on a double-decker bus in Madrid. Accusing the executive "of embodying the threat to the freedom of Spain", he called on the citizens to continue to demand his resignation.

The leader of the far right-wing party Vox, Santiago Abascal, at a demonstration in Madrid, encouraging people to take to the streets at the risk of their lives and the whole country. The demonstration is full of fascist flags. #ElVirusSoisVoxotros pic.twitter.com/lfOXJGEJCz

The government showed "late management at the start (of the pandemic), it was bad management. And I think that after all that, the government will plunge us into an economic crisis," said Oscar de Lolmo, a 51-year-old engineer who wore a watch decorated with the Spanish flag.

Pedro Sanchez has been confronted for several days with demonstrations with pots and pans in several cities. Protesters accuse the executive of gagging individual freedoms and incompetence in the face of a pandemic, which has killed nearly 28,000 people in Spain.

State of alert until June 6

After a bitter debate, MPs voted just on Wednesday to extend the state of alert until June 6. The government, which does not have an absolute majority, considers it essential to maintain this exceptional measure to continue to limit freedom of movement during the deconfinement, planned in phases until the end of June.

"I came because I believe that the government of Pedro Sanchez lied to us, that it played with the health of the Spanish (...) It played with the health of the elderly because it did not provide us with masks or safety measures to avoid contamination, "fulminated Marina Samber, 51, green mask - the color of the Vox party - on the face.

Members of the government "became the murderers of 40,000 people because if Sanchez had not been in power (...) there would have been far fewer deaths," said Carlos De Lara, a 43-year-old salesman who came her 68-year-old father, convinced that the official death toll is largely underestimated.

Many protesters criticized the strict confinement still in force in a large part of Spain, in particular in Madrid and Barcelona, ​​where the measures will not begin to be significantly relaxed until Monday.

With AFP

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