The reaction came after Vox leader Santiago Abascal said there would come a time when “the Spanish people would want to string up (Sánchez) by the feet”.
“These type of rhetoric.. is an attempt to turn.. our country into a place where hate speech and confrontation reigns,” Sánchez told reporters on presenting his latest book.
Earlier, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares expressed his “total rejection” of Abascal’s comments which “constitute hate speech that seeks to polarise and incite violence” ahead of talks with his counterparts in Brussels.
That type of language “hasn’t been heard in Spain for many decades, since times that were very dark,” he said, referring to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939-1975).
The minister also urged the right-wing opposition Popular Party (PP) to renounce its tie-up with the far-right under which the two parties jointly run five of Spain’s 17 regional governments and several local municipalities.
“You shouldn’t be doing anything with a leader like that,” Albares said.
Entrañable reencuentro en Buenos Aires con el ya Presidente de la Nación Argentina, Javier Milei. @JMilei
Hermanados de manera irrevocable en la batalla cultural y política por la libertad y contra la ruina izquierdista. pic.twitter.com/KjbjbwFG5k
— Santiago Abascal 🇪🇸 (@Santi_ABASCAL) December 9, 2023
Abascal made the remarks in an interview with the Argentine daily Clarín this weekend while visiting Buenos Aires to attend the swearing-in of Javier Milei as Argentina’s new ultra-libertarian president.
After flaunting his links to the new president, the Vox leader laid into Sánchez, notably for his approval of a controversial amnesty deal for Catalan separatists in order to stay in power.
Economy Minister Nadia Calviño denounced his remarks as “dangerous”.
“I think we have to try and calm this kind of rhetoric as soon as possible,” she told Onda Cero radio.
PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo also condemned Abascal’s remarks, saying they were “regrettable” and would only “divide Spain” in comments on Telecinco television.
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¿Entonces este es el hombre con el que Feijoo quiere colaborar? Qué vergüenza que fingiera una cuestión de “democracia”. Feijóo debe condenar a Abascal y afirmar que el PP nunca colaborará con Vox para gobernar. ¡Y no conviertan a los activistas separatistas en mártires mediante una opresión continua!