Masked protesters smash a Felipe VI effigy in San Sebastián after a left-wing rally

On Sunday, four masked demonstrators attacked a life-size figure of King Felipe VI with a hammer on a San Sebastián boulevard, hours after a rally called by the Basque left-wing youth organization Ernai. The act mirrors a New Year’s 2023 episode in Madrid where a piñata depicting Pedro Sánchez was similarly battered, leading the Socialist Party to file a complaint that was initially dismissed by Judge Concepción Jerez.

The higher Audiencia Provincial ordered the case reopened, limiting the investigation to possible threats or serious insults rather than hate crimes. Judge Jerez had argued the earlier incident was protected political expression, citing European Court of Human Rights precedent that destroying public images of officials falls within free speech. The Spanish penal code still criminalizes severe insults to the Crown, and the PSOE-Sumar coalition is currently drafting a bill to repeal such provisions, though it has not yet been approved. The latest effigy attack has not been publicly condemned by government officials using the same language Sánchez employed after the Sánchez piñata incident.