CATALONIA --- Human towers raise the voice of the Catalan people and demand the right to vote - VilaWeb
Human towers raise the voice of the Catalan people and demand the right to vote
Human towers up to 9 stories tall were built
in eight European cities in favor of the November 9th Catalan referendum
on independence · #CatalansWantToVote
The multi-city human tower day to demand the right to vote
for the Catalans has come off without a hitch. The participating teams
in the "Catalans want to vote" event, organized by Òmnium Cutural in
eight European cities, successfully built human towers and displayed
flags that read "CatalansWantToVote": the Joves Xiquets de Valls, near
the emblematic Tower Bridge in London; the Vella dels Xiquets de Valls
team in front of Paris' Eiffel Tower; the human tower builders of
Vilafranca in Brussels in the Grand Place; the Xiquets de Reus, in
Geneva; the Borinots from the Sants neighborhood of Barcelona, in Lisbon
next to the Torre Betlem; the Xics de Granollers, in Berlin; the
Bordegassos de Vilanova, in Rome; and the team from Sagrada Família, in
Barcelona, were able to raise their human towers in favor of the right
to decide on November 9th.
A symbolic showy event that aims
to "internationalize Catalonia's wish for democracy" is how Muriel
Casals, the president of Òmnium Cultural, described it. "That's why
we're encouraging everyone to go to see the event and join the call.
in the end, there were seventy-one participating teams who
all built a tower at the same time with a flag that read "Catalans want
to vote" in the official language of each city. In addition to the
announced locations, there were also human towers in Pamplona
(coinciding with the Basque Way), Montreal (Québec), Santiago (Chile)
and also Algemesí, where the Valencian Countries muixerangueres team
gathered at the Central square "as representatives of Valencian popular
culture, in favor of democracy and the right of citizens to express
their opinion".
The Xics de Granollers performed in Berlin, in the
emblematic Alexanderplatz; the Castellers de Vilafranca, in the Grand
Place in Brussels; the Xiquets de Reus were in the Place des Nations in
Geneva; the Castellers de Sants, at the Torre de Betlem in Lisbon; the
Colla Joves dels Xiquets de Valls, at the Tower Bridge in London; the
Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls, at the Champs de Mars in Paris; and
the Bordegassos de Vilanova, in Giancomo in Roma.
In
Barcelona there were multiple performances. The Castellers de la
Sagrada Família climbed in front of Gaudí's famous church, and the
Castellers de Barcelona, the Minyons de Terrassa and the Castellers de
Sabadell, were in Barcelona's central Plaça Sant Jaume, between the City
Hall and the Catalan Government Generalitat Palace. And more than 50
teams built towers in 41 small towns and cities.
The project would not have been possible without the
support of the Human Tower Team Coordinator, who actively participated
in the organization of the event. In addition, in each European city
there was a "honorary spokesperson", in charge of reading the manifesto
in support of the initiative. These were Bayern (and former FC Barcelona
coach) Pep Guardiola in Berlin, musician Jordi Savall in Paris,
historian Paul Preston in London, playright Helder Costa in Lisbon,
actor Sergi López in Brussels, actor Joan Mompart in Geneva and Muriel
Casals (Òmnium President) in Barcelona.
Paris, Brussels, and London
