The independence movement will take to the streets on January 19, in a demonstration called by the Consell per la República, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural on the occasion of the celebration in Barcelona of a Spain-France summit at the highest level .
The entities, in a joint statement, and as suggested by the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont on Friday, call for unitary mobilization before the visit of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and that of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, to the Catalan capital. Thus, the protest will be in the place where the summit will be held, which has not yet been revealed, although it had been speculated that it was in the Palau Nacional de Montjuïc.
The pro-independence organizations met yesterday Saturday to agree on this protest call and have already been joined by other entities such as the Association of Municipalities for Independence, the Escarré International Center for Ethnic Minorities and Nations (CIEMEN), and the sovereignist unions Intersindical-CSC and the Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya (IAC) or Poble Lliure, one of the parties that make up the CUP.
The central government considers the process over and has made it explicit in recent weeks, after the reform of the Penal Code that repeals the crime of sedition and modifies others such as embezzlement or public disorder, some modifications that should help some of the prosecuted in the causes of 1-O.
The celebration of the summit with the neighboring country in Barcelona is an example of this change in circumstances in Catalonia, according to the Sánchez Executive. It is expected that a Friendship and Enhanced Cooperation treaty between the two countries will be signed at that meeting, which will place Spain at the same level as other prominent members of the European Union, Germany and Italy.
Puigdemont, taking advantage of this circumstance, already made a call on Friday for the mobilization of the independence movement in a united way in the Catalan capital, to counter these affirmations and “defend the country against some deluded gravediggers.”
“They have worked to demobilize and break unity, which have been two great tools to defend Catalonia against a state that discriminates against us and harms us for being Catalan,” lamented the now MEP and one of the leaders of Junts per Catalunya, although he no longer plays any role in the organic leadership of the party.
In a joint statement from the convening organizations, it is pointed out that the statements that end the process are a “provocation and a fantasy”, especially “taking into account that no political solution to the conflict has been given” and that there are people pending trial for the 1-O referendum and the subsequent mobilizations. ANC, Consell and Òmnium also confirm that “the desire for independence is more alive than ever, and that it is not the governments of Spain and France that represent them, but those that repress the Catalan nation, its people and its language and culture “. For this reason, they add, the mobilization also “wants to be a cry for the defense of Catalan and educational linguistic immersion” and will incorporate the demands of the French region of Northern Catalonia.
In December 2018, Sánchez held a meeting of the Council of Ministers in the Catalan capital in an extraordinary way and there were various protests and incidents in the surrounding area, as also happened in October 2019 after the sentencing of the process leaders.
With these wickers, the protest will also be a thermometer to measure the mobilization of the independence movement in the streets, which after the covid pandemic has lost strength significantly, and to see the position of Esquerra as the only party in the Government. It is not yet known if President Pere Aragonès will have any role in the summit as host.
