Catalonia, Europe and democracy
In Madrid, in the heart of Western Europe, twelve representatives of
Catalan politics and civil society are currently on trial. Nine of them
are in pre-trial detention, in many cases for well over a year. The
charges are very serious, with requests for punishment by the public
prosecutor up to 25 years.
Among the alleged crimes there is the "rebellion": it is the criminal
figure used for those who, in 1981, entered the parliament with weapons
and took tanks into the street. The Spanish penal code, in effect,
requires, in the typing of the crime, the element of the "violent
revolt". The only violence so far certain, due to the innumerable images
that show it and that have gone around the world, is however the one
put in place by the Spanish police forces: which depart from every
corner of the country for Catalonia under the threatening cry "A por
ellos!" ("To take them!"; "Give them to him!"); who beat voters and
protesters - even non-independence - intent on peacefully resisting,
with arms raised, in defense of the seats; firing rubber bullets at
citizens, although their use is prohibited in Catalonia.
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