MADRID (AP) — Thousands of people attending a demonstration have called for Spain’s government to resign over its plan to issue pardons to a dozen separatist leaders who were convicted for a 2017 attempt to carve out an independent Catalan state. The demonstration in Madrid on Sunday was the largest to date against the coalition government led by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. It was held at a central square that has become a symbol for far-right political rallies. Sánchez hasn’t signed any pardons yet for the political and civil society leaders who pushed ahead with a banned independence referendum. But the prime minister has defended the idea as a way to bring Catalans and Spaniards together.
