Government 'deeply' regrets Arrimadas' refusal to meet president

The Catalan government minister of Presidency and spokeswoman, Elsa Artadi, said they "deeply" regret the leader of the opposition's decision not to meet Catalan president Quim Torra.

Torra asked Cs leader Inés Arrimadas to meet tomorrow at 10am, but she said that she won't do so unless the government removes from its balcony a yellow ribbon in solidarity with Catalan politicians in jail or exile. The leader of the opposition said that with the yellow ribbon the Catalan government headquarters is "not a building for everyone" but only for "separatists."

"This is not a political banner. It won't be removed. If they cannot separate politics from rights, that is their problem," said government spokeswoman Artadi, defending the yellow ribbon, which reads "freedom for political prisoners and exiles."

Artadi insisted that Torra's government is ready for dialogue and meetings and hoped Arrimadas will change her mind. In fact, she wondered if Cs representatives in the local council of Barcelona refused to enter the Council, just in front of the government headquarters, where a yellow ribbon is also hanging.

But the leader of the opposition Inés Arrimadas today went on to describe Torra's cabinet as "xenophobic and racist" and even expressed concern over the possibility of a meeting between Torra and the newly-elected Spanish president Pedro Sánchez. "He won't meet with Catalonia, but with separatism," she warned, refusing such talks.

According to Arrimadas, unionist Catalans are now "unprotected" because Spanish direct rule over Catalonia has been lifted and pro-independence parties are back in power in Barcelona. "How will Sánchez defend us from separatism?" she asked.