Vox Deputy José María Sánchez García Expelled from Spanish Congress After Rostrum Confrontation

Vox deputy José María Sánchez García was expelled from the Spanish Congress of Deputies on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, after climbing to the presidential rostrum and confronting First Vice President Alfonso Rodríguez Gómez de Celis and a legal clerk during a plenary debate on the so-called bibliocaust — the burning of books during the Franco era. Sánchez García, who serves as the Vox spokesperson in the Constitutional Commission, was called to order three times before being expelled under Article 104 of the parliamentary regulations, which allows expulsion for the remainder of a session after three warnings. The expulsion covered the full duration of the plenary — Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Sánchez García claimed his conduct was provoked by ERC deputy Jordi Salvador, who he said had called him a "murderer," "ignorant," and "criminal" from his seat. Those allegations were denied by Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, and witnesses from other parties offered a contradictory account of who was insulting whom.

Vice president thought physical attack was coming Alfonso Rodríguez Gómez de Celis, who was presiding over the session at the time of the incident, described the moment in stark terms in an interview with the television program Al Rojo Vivo. He recounted that when Sánchez García positioned himself centimeters from his face at the rostrum, he genuinely assessed the possibility of a physical assault. „I thought of some type of physical aggression” — Alfonso Rodríguez Gómez de Celis via eldiario.es Gómez de Celis said he concentrated on three things simultaneously: not responding physically if attacked, expelling the deputy, and restoring democratic normality as quickly as possible. He acknowledged he could not clearly recall what Sánchez García was shouting because his focus was entirely on those priorities. Gómez de Celis later drew a broader political lesson from the episode, warning that the incident reflected the rise of what he called "violent ideologies" in Spain and internationally. „The real risk is seeing how ideological violence translates into this” — Alfonso Rodríguez Gómez de Celis via LaSexta He compared the trajectory of Vox to that of Donald Trump, arguing that both share an ideological root and that the degree of harm they cause depends only on the power available to them at any given moment.

PSOE pursues longer ban as PP blocks condemnation The PSOE moved the day after the incident to seek a more severe punishment than the three-day expulsion already imposed. The socialists initially explored applying Article 106 of the parliamentary regulations, which allows for a suspension of up to one month and the withholding of salary, but parliamentary sources confirmed that provision must be invoked at the moment the events occur and could not be applied retroactively. The PSOE spokesperson Patxi López publicly urged the Bureau of Congress to impose a "forceful" sanction, stating the episode "cannot be tolerated and must have consequences." The socialists also promoted an institutional declaration of condemnation, which was signed by ten parliamentary groups but failed to achieve the unanimity required for it to be read in plenary, as Vox and the PP declined to sign. The PP proposed an alternative text that referenced the alleged insults from the ERC deputy and called for condemnation of disruptive behavior across all parliamentary groups, while also adding a rider criticizing Congress President Francina Armengol for what the PP described as blocking legislation. The PSOE rejected those additions, leaving the declaration without effect. Vox's absence from the session also had an immediate practical consequence: the party lost a vote on the very bibliocaust initiative that had triggered the confrontation, a measure that, according to La Razón, would have failed had Sánchez García been present to vote.

Sánchez García incident — sequence of events: — ; — ; — ; — ; —

A pattern of outbursts stretching back years The incident was not the first time Sánchez García had been removed from the chamber. In 2021, he was called to order and expelled after calling a PSOE deputy a "witch" from his seat, and on a separate occasion that same year he also approached the rostrum to rebuke the presidency before eventually yielding. In 2022, he compared Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to Adolf Hitler on the floor of Congress, stating "we can say that he is like the Führer," and drew comparisons between Minister Félix Bolaños and Nazism. Alda Recas, a deputy for Más Madrid who was seated near Sánchez García during Tuesday's session, said the behavior was consistent with what she and other deputies had endured over many months. „This gentleman never controls himself in the chamber. Never” — Alda Recas via LaSexta Recas described the atmosphere before the expulsion as already heated, with Sánchez García directing a stream of insults toward the ERC deputy for approximately ten minutes before walking toward the presidency. She also noted that Vox leader Santiago Abascal, who she said had come to the chamber only to vote, watched events unfold on a cafeteria television without intervening. Coalición Canaria deputy Cristina Valido was quoted in LaSexta as observing that Sánchez García "in almost every plenary session rebukes from his seat, shouts, and humiliates." Vox spokesperson Pepa Millán, rather than distancing the party from the episode, placed responsibility on the chamber's leadership, saying those at fault were "the presidency of the Chamber, by not exercising its function of control and order in the Chamber."

The Spanish Congress of Deputies has operated under its current parliamentary regulations since the restoration of democracy following the end of the Franco dictatorship. Article 104 of those regulations permits the expulsion of a deputy for the remainder of a session after three calls to order, while Article 106 allows for suspensions of up to one month with salary forfeiture for conduct deemed to constitute serious disorder. The bibliocaust — the destruction of books under the Franco regime — has remained a contested historical subject in Spanish politics, with debates over historical memory legislation recurring across multiple legislatures. The current Congress session has been described in reporting as operating in an atmosphere of heightened political tension compared to previous legislatures.