News- Middle East: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says the pro-Palestine demonstrations at the Vuelta a España cycling race, which have targeted the Israeli team over the genocide in Gaza, have filled him with “pride.”

Sanchez, in his first comments on the actions, shared his “recognition and full respect for the athletes, but also our admiration for people like Spain’s, which mobilizes for just causes, like Palestine.”

“Spain today shines as an example and as a source of pride, an example to an international community where it sees Spain taking a step forward in the defense of human rights,” he told a Socialist Party gathering in Malaga on Sunday.

The protests targeted the Israeli team over the devastating aggression in Gaza. They have disrupted several stages of one of the cycling’s three grand tours. The activism has forced some stages to be shortened.

Large demonstrations awaited the race's final stage in Madrid. The authorities had already ramped up security ahead of the final stage in the Spanish capital. 

Latest reports indicate the final stage of the race was shut down on Sunday after thousands of anti-Israel protesters clashed with police in the Spanish capital's center. 

On the Gran Via, where cyclists were due to pass multiple times, protesters knocked down barriers and marched into the road, some chanting for a boycott of Israel.

The Israeli regime’s chess team was also recently forced to withdraw from a high-profile international tournament in Spain after organizers prevented it from playing under the regime’s flag in protest at the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

The Athletic, The New York Times’ sports journalism department, reported the development on Friday concerning the seven-strong team that had planned on competing in the Basque Country Chess Championship in the Spanish town of Sestao.

Several members of the Spanish government have publicly supported the movement in a European country where support for the Palestinian cause is strong.

Relations between Spain and the Israeli regime were already tense, as Madrid has emerged as one of Europe's strongest critics of the Gaza genocide.

Premier Sanchez recently declared a series of measures that he said were aimed at preventing Israel's genocide in Gaza. 

The measures included an entry ban on “all those people participating directly in the genocide, the violation of human rights and war crimes in the Gaza Strip.”

Additional measures include an embargo on goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Sanchez has condemned Europe’s double standards regarding Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, calling the international response to the genocide “a failure.”

He described the reaction to Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza as “one of the darkest episodes of international relations in the 21st century.”

Spain’s stance marks a broader policy shift in recent years, deepening after Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza began on October 7, 2023.

Since November 2023, Spain has suspended arms export licenses to Israel, citing concerns that such sales could contribute to violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza.

Spain has also pressed the European Union (EU) to reconsider the EU-Israel Association Agreement, arguing that Israel’s actions in Gaza breach the accord’s human rights clause. 

Source: Press TV