People Before Profit, today, received this report from the radical left pro-independence party, the CUP, in Catalonia. We condemn this latest repression from the Spanish state which is new blow against the independence movement and a further violation of the Catalan right to self determination. It also prepares the way for outrageously draconian sentences on the Catalan leaders currently on trial for the ‘crime’ of organising a democratic referendum. People Before Profit stands in solidarity with the people of Catalonia.
“Early this morning we woke up with the shocking information that nine people were arrested by order of the National Audience under the terrorist law in different towns of Catalonia. Certainly, this is a specialized court for terrorist issues in Madrid. The legitimacy of the Court has been questioned since its very beginning as it is the former Court of Public Order under Francoism(1963-1977) that was turned from day to night into the National Audience in 1977.
The accusation for the nine arrested is sedition, rebellion and terrorism and they are being moved to Madrid. They will be in front of a judge after a previous period of incomunication of 48-72 hours according to the Spanish terrorist law.
The massive police operation this morning carried by the Guardia Civil is trying to connect the arrested people with explosive material, but they entered a warehouse of fireworks of the popular parties of Sabadell that ended last week.
This seems a clear case of police fabrication just before the coming verdict on the trial of the Catalan political prisoners for organising the referendum. This is an operation that tries to link the CDR’s movement, the autonomous movement beyond parties, with terrorist violence, but it is difficult to believe in the context of a total absence of violence.
The operation works to establish connections between the popular independentist movement with a hypothetical violence to come just to justify the verdict. But at the same time that prevents mobilization installing fear and trying to delegitimize the self-determination demands. That is, the operation today is an attempt to prevent social mobilization against the sentence which it is likely to be a harsh punishment while sending a message to all political opposition. In this context the operation follows the previous modus operandi like previous ones, for instance, as it happened one year ago against Tamara Carrasco and Adrià Carrasco that were also accused of terrorism initially, but nowadays withdrow to public disorders only. The former was sent to Madrid also and after that banished to leave her hometown for one year. The latter is actually in exile in Brussels.
We are in the middle of the context of the second anniversary of the 1st October referendum, facing the verdict to the political prisoners and the beginning of the campaign for the new elections after the failure to reach a government. Under these circumstances, this operation aims to divide and to avoid mobilization and self-organisation against the ongoing state repression.
Candidatura d’Unitat Popular[CUP]
Països Catalans
