Linking pro-independence protester with terrorism ‘outrageous’, says Barcelona mayor

Barcelona’s mayor has called the arrest of a pro-independence protester on terrorism charges “outrageous” and has warned about “trivializing” such a serious issue. “It is a fact that there is no violence in Catalonia, the only terrorism we have seen is what took place on the Rambles in August,” mayor Ada Colau said in a radio interview on Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, Spanish police used anti-terror laws to arrest a woman from the network of protest groups known as the Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), accusing her of coordinating pro-independence protests. The woman, who was arrested in Viladecans in Baix Llobregat, is to appear before the Spanish National Court on Thursday to answer charges of terrorism and rebellion.