More huge rallies held across Malaga province as thousands protest Pedro Sánchez's Catalan amnesty deal

Pedro Sánchez's amnesty deal with Catalan separatists again sparked furor on the streets in Malaga with several rallies on Sunday called to protest the re-elected Spanish Prime Minister's controversial move.

Sánchez who won a third term as the leader of Spain on 16 November in a majority vote by MPs came after an offer of an amnesty to Catalan nationalist parties in return for their support. This infuriated the opposition Partido Popular, who called for protests yesterday, Sunday 19 November.

Thousands of people gathered on Sunday in Alhaurín de la Torre, Antequera, Benalmádena, Fuengirola, Ronda, Torre del Mar and Torreón de la Cala, in Mijas. The masses of people protested "in defence of equality and against the amnesty law", according to multiple slogans displayed among the crowds.

Alhaurín de la Torre mayor Joaquín Villanova told a crowd of some 300 people that Sunday's rallies were against the "arrogance of Pedro Sánchez". The province's Partido Popular president Patricia Navarro, in her speech, said the amnesty deal "put the prosperity of Malaga at risk".

'Legal rupture'

Antequera had the largest rally between 4,500 and 3,500 attendees according to National Police sources. Town mayor Manuel Barón gave the floor to four residents who criticised the amnesty deal, saying it "promotes the denial of responsibility to those convicted of the failed referendum in Catalonia and breaks any reasoning, not only legal but also political".

Some 1,000 people chanted in the streets of Ronda "Spain is not for sale" and "Sánchez, traitor, neither worker nor Spaniard", with the mayor María de la Paz Fernández leading the crowds.

In Fuengirola, mayor Ana Mula unveiled a huge Spanish flag in defence of the nation. While in Benalmádena, mayor Juan Antonio Lara told crowds that Spain has experienced "an unscrupulous investiture in which anything goes, where impunity has been exchanged for investiture".

Some 300 people gathered in Mijas where mayor Ana Mata accused Sánchez of manoeuvring to "gag the judges".