More than a thousand people gathered this Wednesday in the Praza de María Pita, in A Coruña, to show their rejection of the presence of the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, at an event called in this central square, where moments of great tension with disturbances and police charges were ultimately recorded.
A large deployment of the National Police, with more than a dozen vans forming a security cordon, has separated the attendees of the Vox rally from the groups of protesters at all times. These, called by student organizations, Galiza Nova, and the Tenants' Union, among other platforms, have positioned themselves in the vicinity of the City Hall, while the Vox event took place at the entrance to the square from the Puerta Real area.
Since 11:00 AM, the gathered crowd, mostly young people, has chanted slogans such as "A Coruña is antifascist" or "You are nothing without the police," among others, without notable incidents for much of the morning. However, at the end of the Vox event, a clash occurred between several protesters and police officers that resulted in a charge in one of the areas where the protest was taking place.
In statements to the media, the general secretary of Galiza Nova, Artai Gabiás, insisted that "the hate speeches that" Santiago Abascal's formation "launches are not well received in Galicia." "Their hate and their racism are a strategy to divide the popular classes. The problems are not the migrants; it is the failure of the capitalist system," Gabiás emphasized, blaming Vox for fostering social confrontation.
During his speech at the event, and when asked about the protest concentration, Santiago Abascal assured that "there is no coercion" that can stop his party, and emphasized that the presence of the protesters does not cause them "any fear."
Furthermore, Abascal defended that, with a potential change of government, "it will not be possible to harass citizens and go to the squares to prevent people from expressing themselves freely," referring to the mobilizations that seek to boycott rallies of his formation.