Call to protest the trial
Pro-independence organisations come together to announce a series of protests including a mass demonstration in Barcelona on February 16
Non-stop protests. That was the message from the pro-independence camp yesterday, with organisations, parties and unions coming together to announce a series of protests against the trial of Catalan leaders due to start next week. The day the trial starts, on February 12, will see a general 10-minute stoppage at noon, with demonstrations planned for the evening in Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona, Tortosa, and other Catalan cities. However, the largest demonstration, which the organisers hope will be “massive”, is set to take place on Saturday February 16 at 5pm. The rally will go along Barcelona’s Gran Via avenue betwen the Espanya and Universitat squares.
In fact, yesterday the Supreme Court rejected the request by the defence to delay the start of the trial, as there are still some 50 documents of evidence that are not ready. The court also rejected the requests for the leaders to be released on conditional bail because of the degrading treatment they received during their transfer from Catalan to Madrid prisons.
“Faced with a political trial that aims to judicialise the exercise of fundamental rights, such as the right to protest or the right to self-determination, we call on the public of the country to take part [in the protests]. We want this new wave of historic mobilisations to reach all spheres of Catalan society,” said the joint pro-independence manifesto, which was read out yesterday by the historian, former PSUC activist and widow of Vázquez Montalbán Anna Sallés, the former CUP party MP David Fernàndez, the journalist and former Catalan government delegate in Paris Martí Anglada, as well as actor Estel Solé.