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THOUSANDS OF ANTI-ROYALISTS have taken to the streets across Spain calling for a vote on the monarchy’s survival after the abdication of King Juan Carlos.
Rather than hand over the throne to Crown Prince Felipe, to be known as King Felipe VI, protesters demanded a referendum on the very survival of the institution.
Late into the night after the king’s abdication announcement on Monday, thousands of people filled Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square as rallies were called in major cities around the country.
Protesters filled the square and police closed access to the royal palace just a short walk away from the demonstration.
“Tomorrow, Spain will be a republic!”, chanted crowds of demonstrators brandishing placards reading: “No more kings, a referendum”; “A royal transition… without a king”; and “Bourbons up for election”.
“I think now would be a good time to proclaim a republic,” said Paola Torija, a 24-year-old therapist for the disabled, following the king’s abdication announcement.
He had his moment of glory but today it is a bit archaic, a bit useless, an extra cost especially in the crisis we are living in.
Republican sentiment remains widespread in Spain, which only restored the monarchy in 1975 after the death of General Francisco Franco, who had ruled for four decades.
Juan Carlos won widespread personal respect for his role in guiding post-Franco Spain to democracy, most famously appearing on national television to halt an attempted military coup in February 1981.
A difficult moment
But many Spaniards were angered when they discovered the king took a luxury African elephant-hunting safari in 2012 while they suffered at home from a crisis that left one in four people unemployed.
Resentment grew as the king’s elder daughter Cristina was formally named a suspect in a judicial investigation into her husband Inaki Urdangarin’s allegedly corrupt business practices.
In a study by pollster Sigma Dos published in January 2014, support for the king fell to 41 percent while those wanting him to abdicate in favour of Felipe surged to 62 percent.
Most worryingly for royalists, the same survey found only 49 per cent approved of the monarchy itself.
Three small leftist parties — Podemos, United Left and the Equo green party which together won 20 percent of the vote in May 25 elections for seats in the European Parliament — called for a referendum on the monarchy.
Losing relevance?
“I am here because I want to elect my head of state,” said 25-year-old Complutense University sociology student Daniel Martin.
King Juan Carlos earned his role as king by leading the nation through the transition from dictatorship to democracy, Martin said.
“For that, he was useful,” he said. “But not afterwards.’
The future King Felipe VI is likely to face public disquiet over the state of the economy and the royal family’s scandals, including the corruption probe into his brother-in-law Urdangarin, said journalist Jose Apezarena, who has written several books about the royals.
“It is a very difficult moment to come to the throne. We have a country that is in an economic crisis and the Urdangarin case has not yet been resolved,” he told AFP.
“I think it would have been more logical to wait until the case was resolved before proceeding to the succession. The Urdangarin case is from now on going to wear down Felipe, not Juan Carlos,” he predicted.
Wow, such an important & thought provoking article.
@Chutes Idiot: troll with no life trolls man enjoying life….
@Clare Power: we all know your backstory brens….but how’s it panning out for u?
More billy billy bullishit with these stories!!
@Lance Taylor: reminded me of one of those very ‘rare’ kamila harris interviews….. meaningless juvenile ramblings from the woke leftie brigade
@Chutes Idiot: leftie haha, no idea of ideology
@Brian D’Arcy: these people think democrats and even our own government are left wing ! It could be said that some policies are left wing but that’s it. You can’t argue with them.
@offside again: YAWN!
@offside again: ??” Our own government”…… You’re transmitting on a different article about living in Paris?
@offside again: name a single ‘right wing’ policy.
@Joe Willis: bailing out the banks?
@offside again: There is no “left wing”. There is no “right wing”. It is an illusion. A means to divide and conquer. There are just people, with different opinions on a wide variety of topics. If you want to use terms that are more accurate, you could say “nationalists and globalists” or “collectivists and individualists” but even these do not capture the full spectrum of any one person’s beliefs.
@Chutes Idiot: “Apropos of nothing, let me shoehorn in my usual dreck. You’re welcome.”
@Alan: the banks were bailed out almost 2 decades ago, and that is not a right wing policy. Government interference in money is left wing not right wing. You’re confused god bless you.
@offside again: what constitutes left and right fluctuates over time . In the 19th century nationalism was considered left wing – a minority fighting for rights in a Kingdom or Empire . Right wing types wanted loyalty to the multi – state King and the status quo preserved . Right / left is just a general guide used in a particular time and is not caste in stone . By today’s more or less agreed standards , some of our government’s policies are left wing – on immigration or its embrace of gender mumbo jumbo .
government’s policies are left wing .
Nice article. Saw loads of families enjoying themselves at the local one.
Very well written piece.
How can you be Irish by circumstance and choice ?
@KO: imagine being Irish by … jeez … I dunno … by accident ?
@offside again: like falling put of a passing plane a day before birth ? Or if here on holidays ? Nah, that would not make you Irish as parents would have to be from here ,in your blood and ancestors so how ?
We need more local news and views like this please.
I don’t get it
have your say