WATCH: Protesters clash with police over Spanish PM's quid-pro-quo deal with Catalan separatists

People of Spain’s mood has become more fervent as a deal between Junts and the Socialists has gotten closer over the past week, with demonstrators fighting with police outside the Socialists’ headquarters in Madrid.

Police attempted to disperse the protest; they fired rubber bullets, according to the authorities, and six people were taken into custody.

Protesters were pursued by riot police down a side street.

Protesters clashed with police outside Spain's Socialist Party headquarters after it reached a deal with the Catalan separatist party Junts, stirring a febrile mood in the country https://t.co/klsIuzhmmK pic.twitter.com/HMGOeVa1M3

— Reuters (@Reuters) November 10, 2023

Earlier on Thursday, around 8,000 demonstrators, according to authorities, waved Spanish flags and demonstrated outside the Socialist headquarters in Madrid. During the demonstration, fireworks and other objects were thrown at the police.

The protesters in the capital of Spain raised banners that read “Sanchez traitor” on the seventh night of the demonstrations.

Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party who attended the protest, told reporters: “We are facing the end of democracy, the biggest attack on national unity ever.”

Other protests were taking place in Barcelona and Valencia.

Spanish acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez looked set to clinch another term in office after his Socialist Party (PSOE) on Thursday secured the backing of Catalan separatist party Junts to form a government in a deal the country’s opposition condemned as “a humiliation”.

A law granting amnesty to those prosecuted over Catalonia’s attempt to secede from Spain was included in the deal, the text showed.

Santos Cerdan, a senior Socialist official, told a press conference in Brussels that, while his party still had “profound disagreements” with Junts, it had put them aside in the interests of forming a “stable government”.

The agreement included Junts lending its votes in parliament to support legislation for a full four-year term, he said.

But Junts, which seeks another independence referendum for the wealthy northeastern region, said supporting each law would depend on progress in talks involving Catalonia’s political conflict.

Debating and voting on the investiture will take place on Nov. 15 and 16, elDiario.es reported, citing parliamentary sources.

Sanchez’s conservative opponents have accused him of putting the rule of law in Spain on the line for his own political gain.

Business leaders called an “urgent” meeting for Monday.

Police were searching for two men after the former head of Spain’s conservative People’s Party (PP) in Catalonia, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, was shot in the face in Madrid. They have not yet offered a motive for the attack.

PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo on Thursday called for further protests around Spain.

He accused Sanchez of “dragging our country towards a total and irreversible humiliation”.

“Our civil resistance will be long,” he added.

An amnesty could exculpate as many as 1,400 activists and politicians involved in the attempt to separate Catalonia from Spain.

Among the beneficiaries is Carles Puigdemont, the Junts leader currently living in exile in Belgium, because of charges he faces as Catalonia’s leader during the separatist drive in 2017.

If the amnesty is approved by congress, Puigdemont, 60, would be able to return to Spain and potentially run for office.

(with inputs from agencies)