• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Sunday, June 4, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World

Tensions Rise in Catalonia Over Pro-Independence Yellow Ribbons

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
08/29/18
in World
Catalonia, Catalan, Catalan independence, Catalan referendum, Spain, Guardia Civil

A pro-Catalan independence protest in Barcelona. Image: SBA73, Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Catalan separatists decorate streets, monuments and even beaches with yellow ribbons to promote their cause — but their opponents just as soon remove them to clean up” this Spanish region.

Tensions are rising in Catalonia over the use of this symbol demanding the release of Catalan political leaders who were jailed during the region’s fight for independence last year.

A group of around 80 masked activists wearing white boiler suits removed hundreds of yellow ribbons overnight from small towns near Girona, images broadcast on Spanish television showed.

“We went to three towns and we filled between 18 and 20 garbage bags with yellow ribbons. In total it was between 100 and 120 kilos (220 and 265 pounds),” the spokesman for the self-described Cleaning Brigade, Jose Casado, told AFP.

In a sharply divided region, especially since a failed declaration of independence in October, such groups have emerged in recent months in response to campaigns by Catalan separatists.

Independence sympathizers have covered bridges, entire streets, street fronts and even monuments such as Tarragona’s Roman walls with plastic yellow ribbons since Spain jailed a number of Catalan political leaders over the independence declaration. Other leaders went into exile to avoid arrest.

Yellow ribbons have also appeared painted on walls, roads or street furniture like flower pots.

Some Catalan beaches have meanwhile been transformed into cemeteries of yellow crosses which separatists say symbolize the death of democracy in Spain.

Independence sympathizers wear tiny yellow ribbons on their clothes and yellow ribbons occupy the seats in the Catalan parliament of the jailed politicians.

Spanish state is afraid of yellow ribbons and wants unionists to be able to remove them freely wearing masks and armed. Any idea how this sounds? Democracy or totalitarism? #Catalonia #Spain https://t.co/4fK3RpviiL

— Mikko Kärnä (@KarnaMikko) August 27, 2018

‘Freedom of Expression’

Catalan president Quim Torra and members of his regional government even posed for a picture by a giant yellow ribbon during the recent one-year anniversary of the deadly jihadist attacks in Barcelona in 2017.

“Anyone can put whatever they want in their home but public spaces belong to everyone,” said Casado of the Cleaning Brigade, arguing that the yellow ribbons were being “imposed” on public spaces by the separatists.

Conservative Spanish parties back the removal of the yellow ribbons, especially center-right Ciudadanos which was formed to fight Catalan independence.

It has launched a campaign called “Let’s remove the yellow ribbons!”.

Albert Rivera, the Ciudadanos national leader, and Ines Arrimadas, the leader of Ciudadanos in Catalonia, removed yellow ribbons from public spaces in a Catalan town on Wednesday, throwing them in garbage bags which they carried themselves, before taking part in a demonstration against the ribbons.

Separatists say placing the ribbons in public spaces is part of the “debate of ideas” of any democracy and criticise those who remove them.

“Placing ribbons or anything is an act of democracy. Removing them is restricting freedom of expression, the vice president of influential grassroots separatist group ANC, Pep Cruanyes, told AFP. “If they don’t like our symbols, they should go out and place something else.”

Punched in Face

Regional head Torra has urged the Catalan police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, to act against “aggressive groups who want to scare activists calling for the release of the prisoners.”

The tension over the ribbons has spilled over into some violent incidents.

Police said Wednesday they had arrested a man in Barcelona suspected of having punched a woman in the face who was removing yellow ribbons from a park fence.

After an anti-independence association filed a lawsuit accusing Mossos of acting “arbitrarily” against those who remove yellow ribbons, public prosecutors on Monday opened a probe into Catalonia’s regional police force.

Spain’s attorney general, Maria Jose Segarra, has tried to ease tensions, saying recently that “placing or removing (ribbons) was not a crime.”

Catalonia: a Story of Judges and Clowns

Share3Tweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

A woman stocks a bathroom with free pads and tampons
World

Spain Passes Law for Europe’s First ‘Menstrual Leave’

by Staff Writer
February 17, 2023
Spain migrants
Refugees

Spain Prosecutor Opens Probe Into Melilla Migrant Deaths

by Staff Writer
June 28, 2022
Samuel Luiz
World

Two More Suspects Arrested Over Killing of Gay Man in Spain

by Staff Writer
July 9, 2021
Catalan students hold a banner reading "For an education to serve the Catalan people".
Opinion

‘Enough Is Enough:’ Ideological Harassment in Catalan Universities

by Carlos Conde Solares
September 4, 2020
Carrie Lam press conference in Hong Kong
World

Hong Kong Reimposes Social Distancing as Global Cases Continue to Rise

by Alexandra Marquez
July 14, 2020
People wave pro-independence Catalan flags 'Esteladas' while holding letters reading 'independence' during a pro-independence demonstration in Barcelona, Spain
Featured

Spain’s New Government to Tackle Catalonia via Negotiation

by Staff Writer
January 13, 2020
Next Post
A displaced Iraqi family

Displaced Iraqis Don’t Want to Leave Camps to Return Home

Uighurs pray at the Id Kah Mosque in Xinjiang, China.

China Rebukes US Lawmakers for Xinjiang Sanctions Call

Recommended

A man holds US, Taiwan flags

US and Taiwan Ink Trade Deal as China Issues Warning

June 2, 2023
Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021

Militia Leader Gets 18 Years in Prison Over US Capitol Attack

May 26, 2023
Customers queue to enter a re-opened Zara clothes shop

EU Targets Fast Fashion in Push for Durable Goods

May 23, 2023
A billboard showing the debt limit is seen in Washington, D.C.

US Republicans Upbeat on Prospects for Debt Deal

May 19, 2023
Military hardware rolls through Dvortsovaya Square during a Victory Day military parade in central Saint Petersburg

Pressing Russia, US Shares Nuclear Warhead Data Under Treaty

May 16, 2023

Opinion

Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A man holding a gun

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

May 12, 2023
US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

A Supreme Folly 

April 24, 2023
Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 26, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post