Spain's two biggest cities have finally been allowed to move to phase one of the country's four-stage de-escalation process. From Monday residents in Madrid and Barcelona will be able to visit cafes with outside seating and to engage in social gatherings of no more than 10 people.

However there is still growing anger amongst some Spaniards that the transition out of lockdown is not happening fast enough.

Pots and pans

One of Madrid's wealthiest neighborhoods, Salamanca has been the site of daily protests against the government for the last week. Every night at 9pm, people come out onto the streets protesting by hitting pots and pans.

There isn't much social distancing in evidence, but there is a lot of anger directed at Spain's prime minister Pedro Sánchez.

"We have been protesting for the last nine or 10 days now," one protestor told CGTN Europe. "We think this government has got it all wrong. They have managed this pandemic badly."

Another said: "We have been jailed for 68 days, all we are allowed to do is a little walk in the morning from eight till 11. We can only go to the supermarket or the pharmacy. We can't keep going on like this."

Many of the protesters in Salamanca say they are angry the state of emergency has given extraordinary powers to what is a minority government. What is more, they say prime minister Pedro Sanchez has abused that power by restricting what they feel are fundamental freedoms.

Having started in Salamanca, the pots and pans protest has caught on around the capital and has been repeated in Malaga and Seville.

Politically motivated protests

One of the biggest supporters of the movement has been the far-right Vox party, which has led critics to suggest these gatherings are less about COVID-19 and more about their dislike of the ruling socialist coalition.

Spain's prime minister insists the only way to beat the virus is for the country to unite and support his lockdown measures.

Speaking to the Congress of Deputies earlier this week, Sanchez said: "It's the people, together, that have flattened the coronavirus curve. 

"The Spaniards are the ones who stopped the virus – collectively. And no one, I repeat no one, has the right to waste what we have achieved together during these weeks of confinement."

Despite his appeal for unity, Spain does remain deeply politically divided. While the coronavirus crisis did not create those divisions, it is arguably made them a whole lot worse.

Check out The Pandemic Playbook, CGTN Europe's major investigation into the lessons learned from COVID-19.