Catalan president asks Spain’s king for dialogue to heal wounds

The Catalan president has sent a letter to Spain’s king calling for dialogue in order to heal “wounds” caused by the “repression” against independence supporters. Quim Torra has asked Felipe VI for a meeting, with the monarch due in Catalonia for the opening ceremony of the Mediterranean Games in Tarragona on Friday.

The first official communication with the king since Torra’s election last month, the letter has also been signed by the president’s most recent predecessors, Artur Mas and Carles Puigdemont—the latter currently in Germany awaiting a decision on his extradition to Spain.

In the letter, the presidents describe the king’s visit to Tarragona as a “historic opportunity” to “repair” the “violence, the repression and the persecution” against the independence referendum last October.