Spain’s far-right holds car protest against virus lockdown

Several thousand followers of Spain’s far-right Vox party gathered Saturday in their cars and on motorbikes in the center of Madrid and other Spanish cities to protest the Spanish government’s handling of the nation’s coronavirus crisis.

The party accuses the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of lying about the impact of the health crisis and for violating Spaniards’ rights by confining people to their homes and closing business during the lockdown.

Vox called for protesters to attend the protests in their vehicles and thus skirt the current prohibition on social gatherings in effect under the nation’s two-month long state of emergency designed to reduce contagion risks.

Vox called the protest the “Caravan for Spain and Liberty.”

“We will never forget what they have done,” Vox leader Santiago Abascal said from the open-top bus leading the car caravan as it inched down a Madrid boulevard.

“Do not doubt that we will make them face justice. They know it and fear our freedom. That is why they try to intimidate us.”

Most cars and motorbikes were decked with Spanish flags. There were also small groups of people who participated on foot, with some not respecting the two-meter social distancing rules. More protests were held in Barcelona, Sevilla and other provincial capitals.

Spain's government says that the confinement measures have been necessary to save the nation's hospitals from collapse and thousands of more lives.

Over 28,000 Spaniards have been confirmed to have died from COVID-19. The government says that all the information it makes public on deaths and infections from the virus are provided by the regions, some of which are governed by opposition parties. No region has accused the government of relaying incorrect data.

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