The second vice president of the Government and leader of Sumar has distanced herself from the PSOE in her consideration of the seriousness of the protest in which several protesters beat a doll representing Pedro Sánchez until it broke. “I think, if you allow me as a jurist, that it is not a crime. Hating is not a crime. It is a feeling that is serious, but I am not in favor of resorting to legal means in these cases,” Yolanda Díaz stressed in an interview on RNE.
Following the events that occurred last New Year’s Eve in front of its headquarters on Ferraz Street in Madrid, the socialist leadership announced on Monday that it was “studying all legal avenues” against the organizers of the rally and its participants. “We believe that what happened may be included in a hate crime,” said sources from the party, which has not filed any complaint at the moment.
What Díaz and his coalition partner do agree on is trying to put the focus of this controversy on the formation that leads the opposition in Congress. According to the also Minister of Labor, “it is urgent that the PP with Mr. [Alberto Núñez] Feijóo at the head condemns these acts and stands on the side of democracy in our country”: “What is happening is intolerable.”
This Tuesday, in the leadership of Genoa they demonstrated showing their rejection and “condemnation” of these behaviors, although they immediately threw the ball into the PSOE’s court and demanded that they also condemn the burning of photos of the King or the president of their party.
Ferraz responded that they had “strongly condemned” the insults uttered against the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, also during New Year’s Eve. “Once again the PP falls short and is closer to the ultras than to the democrats,” they stressed from the leadership of the formation.