The Lleida City Council removes the banner for the 'political prisoners' after the order of the Electoral Board

The Lleida City Council, La Paeria, has withdrawn a few minutes before 1:30 p.m. this Tuesday from the facade of the consistory that faces Avenida Blondel the banner with the motto ‘Llibertat persones preses polítiques i exiliades’. Free political prisoners and exiles’ (Freedom political prisoners and exiles. Exiles and free political prisoners) fulfilling the requirement of the Electoral Board of the Lleida Zone.

The board communicated yesterday to the consistory that it estimated the complaint of the candidate for mayor of Lleida for Valents in the municipal elections of May 28, Ángeles Ribes and required the mayor, Miquel Pueyo, to remove the “partisan” banners from the City Hall and other public buildings that depend on him, within a maximum period of 24 hours”. According to Ribes, she received a copy of the request by email at 1:28 p.m.

The City Council has also removed a yellow ribbon from the façade of Plaza Paeria and has avoided assessing the removal of the banner. Ribes, for her part, has assured that the withdrawal “is the confirmation that all democratic norms were being breached in this City Council” and has insisted that she has been denouncing it for a long time.

Ribes, a non-attached councilor since she was expelled from Ciudadanos, insists that she has sent multiple requirements to the Mayor’s office and the general secretary, urging that “political neutrality within the public administration, which is the City Council,” be maintained.

“A City Council, so that it belongs to everyone, cannot be bossed around by a political group, which is what has happened during this time,” he remarked.

It was also Ángeles Ribes who, in the 2019 general elections, when he was in Ciudadanos, denounced the then CUP councilor Pau Juvillà at the electoral board, for maintaining yellow ties that hung from the windows of the formation’s office in La Paeria. Due to the refusal of the CUP to withdraw the ties (which were removed by the Mossos d’Esquadra), Juvillà was disqualified and the Parliament withdrew his seat in 2022.