Controversial banner back on Catalan government building

With the local and European elections over on Sunday, it took less than a day for president Quim Torra to order that a controversial banner considered "partisan" by the electoral authority be returned to the front of the Catalan government building.

During the election campaign, the electoral authority ordered Torra to remove the banner in support of Catalan leaders on trial in the Supreme Court over the 2017 independence bid from the front of the public building.

The president at first defied the order, arguing that the banner, which reads "freedom for the political prisoners and exiles" and features a yellow ribbon, was not political and that the order was an infringement of freedom of expression.

That led to Torra being hit by a lawsuit accusing him of disobedience, and the president finally ordered the banner's removal as the deadline to comply with the order ran down. Yet, Torra had the banner replaced with another championing freedom of expression.

As part of the lawsuit, Torra appeared in the high court in Barcelona on May 15, where prosecutors questioned him about the incident. Yet, Torra left the hearing in defiant mood, insisting that "it's not possible to obey an illegal order that violates fundamental rights."