Catalan mayor denounces attack by ‘fascist radicals’

The city council of Canet de Mar, a Catalan seaside town, is considering taking legal action against a group of unionists in balaclavas that clashed with pro-independence supporters on Monday, leaving five people injured and around 30 identified by police.

In an interview with Catalan public radio, Blanca Arbell, Canet’s mayor, dismissed the hooded people as “fascist radicals who believe they can act with impunity and seek confrontation,” and added that “we shouldn’t allow them to enjoy this pleasure.”

According to police, the incident began when some individuals, who concealed their faces with balaclavas, began removing yellow crosses from the beach. The items were placed there on Monday by the pro-independence grassroots group CDRs (short for Committees in Defense of the Republic) as an act of protest to demand the release of the pro-independence Catalan officials in prison and those abroad.

Aquesta és la seva democracia, violents i intolerants. Agressió feixista a Canet de Mar. Uns 30 encaputxats i 3 persones ferides.

Contra el feixisme ni un pas enrere!!#alertaultra #CDRenXarxa #CDRCanet #CDRMaresme pic.twitter.com/0tUej9BX7b

— CDR Canet de Mar (@CDRCanet) May 21, 2018

As some individuals started removing the crosses, some of the campaigners in favor of a Catalan state protested, which led to a fight and to the local police and the Catalan law enforcement officers from the Mossos d’Esquadra being called.

The CDRs’ local branch in Canet de Mar called a demonstration to denounce what they deemed as a “fascist attack.”

Parties condemn the incident

Catalan president Quim Torra also described the incident as a “fascist attack,” and called on all parties to condemn it too. “Everybody has the right to express themselves, but nobody [has the right to] violate other people’s rights,” he said.

Parliament speaker Roger Torrent warned against the “impunity” of far-right groups who use violence.

Ciutadans dismissed as false the accusations by a local pro-independence politician injured on Monday, who claimed that a member of the unionist party was among the people who removed yellow crosses from the beach. While stressing that it was not clear who caused the incident, Ciutadans spokesperson Carlos Carrizosa said his party condemned all kinds of violence, and urged those in the pro-independence side to do the same.

The Socialist party, opposed to independence, condemned both the violent incident as well as the attempts to “homogenize public spaces.” Salvador Illa, a spokesperson for the party, said public space should remain “neutral.”