THE violent scenes that forced the cancellation of the grand finale of the Vuelta a España have triggered a bitter political row in Spain after prime minister Pedro Sanchez appeared to throw his support behind pro-Palestine protesters who disrupted the event and attacked police.
Some 22 police officers were injured amid violent exchanges as some demonstrators, many of whom displayed Palestine flags, knocked down barriers and threw bottles, while security forces struck back with batons and fired teargas.
In the end, Sunday’s 104km-long last leg was cancelled with more than 55km still to race after an estimated 100,000 activists descended on Madrid to rally against the participation of Israel-Premier Tech, a team owned by an Israeli-Canadian businessman and publicly backed by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu whose presence has led to a series of demonstrations and disruptions throughout the three week-long race.
Speaking in Malaga early on Sunday, Sanchez told a crowd: “Today the Vuelta finishes and we show our absolute respect and recognition for the athletes.
“But also our admiration for the Spanish people who mobilise for just causes such as Palestine. Today Spain shines as an example and as a source of pride. It’s an example to the international community by taking a step forward in defence of human rights.”
The comments were latched on to by Spain’s conservative Partido Popular (PP) opposition, who accused Sanchez of sowing the seeds for the disorder that forced race organisers to abandon the Vuelta’s grand finale.
Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, leader of the PP, said the prime minister and socialist PSOE leader was ‘proud of the behaviour of those few people who showed their support for Gaza by throwing barriers at Policia Nacional officers.
He added: “I defend freedom of expression, as long as it doesn’t involve violence or riots. The government has allowed and induced the non-completion of the Vuelta, and thus an international embarrassment that was televised around the world.”
Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the combative PP mayor of Madrid, joined in with the scathing criticism as she accused Sanchez of inciting violence against the city’s police.
“When the prime minister of the nation encourages a boycott of the Vuelta a España in his own capital, he becomes directly responsible for every incident that occurs, whether the race is stopped or whether there is a single assault,” she said.
“What damage to our support and our country!”
Santiago Abascal, leader of far-right Vox, accused Sanchez of ‘inciting and applauding street terrorism against the police, against cyclists, and against families’.
Writing on X, Abascal added: “It was only a year ago that I said the worst of Sanchez was yet to come, and here it is: He is going to promote terrorist violence against Spaniards. And it won’t stop until we put him in the dock alongside his wife, his brother, his prosecutor and his comrades in the socialist mafia.”
Sanchez’s comments were also criticised by Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, who took to social media to label Sanchez and his government ‘a disgrace to Spain’.
The sour war of words comes just one week after Sanchez unveiled a package of nine measures designed to force Netanyahu to stop his brutal ongoing military offensive in Gaza.
The Spanish premier said: “What PM Netanyahu presented in October 2023 as a military operation in response to the horrific terrorist attacks has ended up becoming a new wave of illegal occupations and an unjustifiable attack against the Palestinian civilian population – an attack that the UN special rapporteur and the majority of experts already describe as a genocide.”
“Protecting your country and your society is one thing, but bombing hospitals and killing innocent boys and girls with hunger is another thing entirely.
“That isn’t defending yourself, that’s not even attacking. It’s exterminating a defenceless people. It’s breaking all the rules of humanitarian law.”
Among the measures Sanchez announced ‘to stop the genocide in Gaza’ was a law formalising the current prohibition of military equipment sales or purchases with Israel, and a ban on the use of Spanish ports or airspace to transport fuel or weapons to Israel’s military.
“We know that all those measures won’t be enough to stop the invasion or the war crimes,” Sanchez added. “But we hope that they will serve to add to the pressure on PM Netanyahu and his government, to alleviate some of the suffering of the Palestinian population, and to let the Spanish know that their country was on the right side of history when it came to one of the most infamous episodes of the 21st century.”
Sanchez’s comments provoked ire from leading figures in Netanyahu’s government, who accused the socialist premier of ‘anti-semitism’ and ‘corruption’.
In response, the Israeli government announced that youth minister Sira Rego and deputy prime minister Yolanda Diaz would be banned from entering Israel because of their criticisms of its conduct in Gaza.
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