Thousands of people have begun to march this Saturday through the center of Madrid to demand the calling of general elections and protest against the actions of the Government of Pedro Sánchez regarding the crisis in Ceuta. The so-called II March for Dignity. In defense of Spain, called by the platform Sociedad Civil Española, departed from the Plaza de Cibeles shortly after 10:00 AM and is expected to end around Moncloa at approximately 2:00 PM.
The mobilization includes the participation of leaders from PP and Vox. Among the attendees are the president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, and the general secretary of the popular party, Miguel Tellado, as well as the president of the Autonomous City of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas. The organizers claim that nearly 200 associations, foundations, parties, unions, and other groups have joined the call.
By mid-morning, there is still no definitive official figure for participation. The information published at the start of the march speaks of thousands of attendees and suggests a turnout apparently lower than that recorded in the first protest organized by the same platform last May.
From Cibeles to Moncloa to demand elections again
The protesters advance from Cibeles along Alcalá Street, Gran Vía, and Princesa to the Arco de la Victoria, in Moncloa, on a route through some of the main arteries of the center of Madrid. The mobilization recovers one of the main demands of the first March for Dignity: to demand that Pedro Sánchez bring forward the general elections.
Sociedad Civil Española specifically demands that the electoral call take place before November 15, a political demand from the organizers that does not bind the Executive. The Constitution grants the president of the Government the power to propose the dissolution of the Congress, the Senate, or both Chambers within the limits established by legislation.
The platform is driven, among others, by the former deputy of Ciudadanos Marcos de Quinto and the former leader of the PP and co-founder of Vox Alejo Vidal-Quadras. Its leaders present themselves as an initiative of civil society independent of the parties, although among the entities and personalities linked to the organization there are numerous profiles with previous experience in PP, Ciudadanos, and Vox.
Ceuta enters the center of the protest
Unlike the march held in May, the situation in Ceuta occupies this time a central part of the slogans. The organizers use in their call the expression “invasion of Ceuta and Melilla” to refer to the migration crisis, a political characterization by Sociedad Civil Española that does not constitute an official designation of the facts.
The autonomous city has been going through an extraordinary situation since the end of July after the arrival of thousands of migrants from Morocco, which has forced an expansion of reception resources and has opened a confrontation between administrations over the distribution and care of unaccompanied minors. The central Government and the Ceuta Executive have disagreed on different aspects of the response to the crisis.
The Ceuta president, Juan Jesús Vivas, attended the march this Saturday and defended the return to Morocco of migrant people except in those cases where there is a right to international protection, according to statements collected during the mobilization.
PP and Vox support the call
The Popular Party previously announced its adherence to the protest. Tellado justified the party's presence by stating that it aims to denounce what the popular party considers a situation of institutional deterioration under the current Executive. This is the political assessment of the PP regarding the Government's action.
Vox has also called on its supporters to participate and its president, Santiago Abascal, leads the representation of the party. The two formations agree in demanding early elections and in their criticisms of the Executive regarding Ceuta, although they do not necessarily share all the specific demands included in the organizers' manifesto.
Sociedad Civil Española also proposes other more controversial measures. Among them is requesting the activation of the article 102 of the Constitution to try to demand criminal responsibility from the president of the Government for what the platform calls “treason,” as well as extraordinary measures in Ceuta. Those statements are political accusations from the conveners: there is no judicial resolution that has declared Sánchez guilty of a crime of treason.
The first march gathered 40,000 people according to the Delegation
This is the second major protest organized by Sociedad Civil Española in Madrid. The previous mobilization gathered last May about 40,000 people according to the Government Delegation and 120,000 according to the organizers, a usual difference between institutional estimates and those offered by the organizations of the demonstrations.
That first march also ended with three detainees and seven police officers with minor injuries, according to the balance reported by EFE. The call took place before the current migration crisis in Ceuta began and was mainly focused on demanding the resignation of Pedro Sánchez and the holding of elections.
On September 2, concentrations were again held in different parts of Spain in support of Ceuta, coinciding with the official day of the autonomous city. Among other leaders, Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal participated in them.
A protest still ongoing
The mobilization this Saturday is still developing, so the final number of attendees, possible incidents, and the planned interventions at the end of the march may still change. The route is expected to conclude in Moncloa after passing through Alcalá, Gran Vía, and Princesa.
For the moment, the protest again places two issues in the same march that the opposition and the organizers want to put at the center of the political debate: the demand for early elections and the management of the Ceuta crisis. PP and Vox participate in the call, while Sociedad Civil Española tries to consolidate a mobilization initiated in May and now expanded with the demands related to the autonomous city.