And after just under an hour of Hail Marys, the “Pedro Sánchez bastard”, “criminal PSOE” begins. These are some of the songs heard this Saturday at the intersection between Ferraz and Marqués de Urquijo streets in Madrid, about two hundred meters from the headquarters of the Socialist Party. Unlike today, they have not been immediate. The group of parishioners is divided between those who insisted that the protest take place in silence to respect the day of reflection, and those who have taken to the roads again, amid traffic lights, Spanish flags and banners in hand.
The controversial rosary “for the conversion of all Spaniards” is more massive than days ago. When the intersection was full of people, the prayer began after a “Long live José Andrés”, in support of José Andrés Calderón, the young 26-year-old lawyer who has been organizing the event every afternoon since November 12 last year at the doors of the Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. “There are a lot of people, probably hundreds, because they see what the government representative is doing,” Calderón said in statements to the media before starting. “It has no political intentions because I have never been involved in politics,” adding: “We do not pray against them – the PSOE – and we will never go to the headquarters because we do not like to go to sinister places.”
Dozens of people show up at 7 p.m. “So many media, there have never been so many,” one of the attendees says to several women. “No step back, tomorrow we will still be there as always.” These are the words with which the young lawyer concluded the event, before shouting: “Long live Christ the King! Long live the Blessed Virgin! Long live Spain!”
“Today they asked us to keep quiet the noisy protest that we always make afterwards,” says Lucho, a well-known figure among those present, from the megaphone with which they prayed fifteen minutes before. “And long live Spain, you could say,” he concludes. The concentration is then divided between silent and noisy. Those who have limited themselves to wearing the rosary disappear little by little from the stairs and others arrive, carrying constitutional Spanish flags, Francoist flags, with the image of the Virgin Mary and also some Carlist flags, as is now customary.
“He is not president, he is a criminal”, “I'm sorry, the European Union”, “long live the damn freedom”, they shout. “Young people don't know the history of this country and the Catholic kings, that's the problem,” argues one of the cheering people, holding a flag with a photo of Franco. “Some Palestinians are also demonstrating in Sol and no one is talking about that today, they are just criminalizing us,” another woman complained to the media.
“I've been coming here since the beginning,” an older man, who asked not to be identified, explains to this medium. Once the noise starts, it disappears because “they don't represent you.” He is surprised by the number of people who have gathered who would not normally be seen, although he understands that because it is a day of reflection it has created anticipation. Despite the chants and the presence of the media and police, the protest is proceeding normally.
Six months of rosary “for the conversion of Spain and the world”
Many carry banners calling for Sánchez's resignation, but insist they do so after prayers, for which they have requested permission. That is the argument of Calderón, who believes that the act has no ideological content whatsoever. “We pray to save Spain,” he says. Keep it, he continues, from “perverse ideologies, such as gender ideology.”
He does not deny that the rosary emerged from “national November”, riots provoked by the far right against the amnesty law. “It is always announced hours before the start of the protests, what others do is not our fault,” he emphasizes.
Calderón has been openly waging a crusade for months against the government delegate in the Madrid community, Francisco Martín, who did not authorize the events that will take place this Saturday, June 8, and tomorrow, election day. Ultimately, it was the TSJ of Madrid that allowed them to proceed, despite the fact that other meetings had been vetoed.
For more than six months, Calderón has been gathering a small group of Catholics for this church. Some days they come more and some days less, but they are persistent. During this time, they even managed to get the actor and former far-right candidate for the presidency of Mexico, Eduardo Verastegui, to attend.
“Tomorrow I hope we will be the same or more,” the same man who said he did not see himself represented by political accusations, explains to elDiario.es. “I will vote and I will come here, as I have come every day, and I will continue to do so,” and he concludes: “I don't think all this will change the voice of a single vote. person.”