Ex-Fox News anchor and right-wing darling Tucker Carlson is stoking conservative anger in Spain.
Carlson was swarmed by fans as he attended a protest in Madrid against Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s plan to grant amnesty to Catalan separatists to secure their backing for another term in office.
“Anybody who would violate [Spain’s] constitution … to end democracy is a tyrant, is a dictator. And this is happening in the middle of Europe,” Carlson said in a clip posted on social media.
The controversial TV host, who notoriously promoted conspiracy theories on air during his time at Fox News, was greeted by demonstrators chanting “Hey, Tucker, help us with this motherfucker.”
He attended the protest together with far-right Vox party leader Santiago Abascal.
Sánchez last week signed a controversial agreement with the Catalan separatist Junts party, which has also attracted the attention of the EU’s justice chief.
The deal, which put an end to months of political paralysis in Spain after a general election did not give any party a clear path to a majority, included a proposal for a law granting amnesty to all the people involved in the aborted 2017 Catalan independence referendum.
The draft bill, which was filed by Sánchez’s Socialists on Monday, has not yet been approved by parliament. But it has already spurred large protests across the country.
The demonstrations escalated Sunday, as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in various cities at the initiative of the conservative opposition People’s Party.