EUROPEAN ELECTIONS 9J | The prayer in Ferraz against the amnesty in the middle of a day of reflection brings together just over a hundred people
“Andrés, a lady is having trouble with Franco’s photo!” While the organizer of the rosary prayer near the PSOE headquarters, José Andrés Calderón, tries to convey to the media that the call is not political, but religious. for the “conversion of Spain”, a collaborator alerts him, agitated because the cameras record a participant holding up a photograph of the dictator. Calderón addresses her by her first name with a reproachful note. The lady understands the message that ‘it’s not time today’. After that, the prayer of the rosary begins. Barely a hundred people crowd the stairs of the parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, at the intersection of Ferraz and Marqués de Urquijo streets in Madrid. Spanish flags, some with the Burgundy cross, others adorned with slogans against the amnesty and, above all, against the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
They are doing it 219 days. The same ones that have happened since the first protest in the vicinity of the socialists’ headquarters on Ferraz street. coinciding with the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. The difference on this occasion has been the attempt at neatness in the political symbology, coinciding with the day of reflection and the presence of the media. The protest was initially prohibited by the Central Electoral Board, but the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid decided to endorse it. The organizer, “Andresito” to those present, did not hesitate to celebrate in his final statement: “Neither the rain nor any tyrant could prevent us from being here.” After praying the rosary, the protest itself began.
One of the attendees uses a megaphone to announce that “the suggestion we make is to do the “Protest silently and peacefully.” It alludes to the fact that today is a day of reflection. The person who asks for it, emphasizing that it is only a “suggestion from many of us here,” is Lucho Arranz. He is known for having tried to resell some public intervention by the President of the Government.
The most popular in Asturias, during a visit to the Oviedo hospital, where one of his insults went viral. After that, another attendee with the Spanish flag as an armband and a Falangist-style shirt takes over the megaphone to Ask staff not to be shy about proclamations. He is one of those who then stand on the road with another small group of people.
They do not cut off circulation. They limit themselves to standing still at the pedestrian crossing, but while the traffic light remains green for pedestrians. The organizers of the prayer have already left the area and confirm what they had guaranteed. That is, they are not going to demonstrate in front of the socialists’ headquarters because “We don’t like going to sinister places.”
“Tomorrow we will return”
The insults to the Chief Executive intensify as an ‘anti-sanchista’ coven. It is then that some dispersed group that had not previously attended the prayer began to join the protest, now solely of a political nature. It’s only a few dozen. Now yes, pre-constitutional flags begin to appear. The average age drops noticeably and the tone of the proclamations rises.
One of the attendees explains that it is part of the tradition since what is called “National November.” After the prayer, it is the turn of the protest which, depending on the mass, disperses or turns into a street blockade. Two riot vans are located in the area, in addition to one from Samur. On this occasion, and despite the additional propaganda for the TSJM resolution, the demonstration was a disappointment.
The pasta that one of the attendees began to distribute after the prayer runs out and more and more protesters abandon the protest. Not before notifying them that this Sunday they will return. They do it convinced that “the power of prayer works”. If not, they ask themselves, “why are they attacking us, what are they afraid of?”
