Protest banned, showdown on Saturday

“Anti-political [i.e. anti Spanish political life] protests Saturday and Sunday 22 May banned,” leads La Vanguardia following the decision by the Central Electoral Commission, to declare any rallies illegal as of midnight, May 20 in a bid to avoid disrupting the local and regional elections of May 22. A ruling, adds the Barcelona daily, ​​”that goes against the Constitutional Court”. The court had, in fact, handed down a contrary decision in 2009, when it authorised a demonstration the day before regional elections were held in Catalonia. La Vanguardia considers that “the phenomenon has caught the parties off balance,” while the government for its part is worried about the “image of instability and lack of authority” the demonstrations could give rise to. The “outraged”, as the swelling ranks of protestors demonstrating in Spanish cities are known, have already announced that they intend to defy the electoral body and have called for demonstrations in Madrid and other Spanish cities on Saturday, May 21, La Vanguardia concludes.