Muriel Casals will be posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of the Government of Catalonia

Barcelona (CNA).-  Muriel Casals, one of the Catalan pro-independence movement’s central figures, who died last Sunday, will be recognised with the Gold Medal of the Generalitat. The award is the highest prize given to those individuals or institutions whose work in the political, social, economic, cultural or scientific field has been outstanding. Casals was responsible for the massive pro-independence rallies which have taken to the streets of Barcelona for the past six years. In 2015, she joined pro-independence cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' and ran for the 27-S Catalan Elections. Recently, she was named president of the Study Committee for the Constitutive Process, responsible for setting the basis for Catalonia's roadmap towards independence. Casals died on the 14^th of February after failing to recover from a traumatic brain injury she suffered when she was hit by a bicycle in Barcelona.

Catalan Government spokeswoman Neus Munté emphasised Casals’ “solid career in teaching and in the defence of the Catalan language and Catalonia’s freedom”. The decision to posthumously award Casals will be added to the homage that will be held in the Parliament on Thursday. Besides this institutional tribute, Òmnium Cultural, the civil society association which Casals headed between 2010 and 2015, will organise another commemorative event. 

Casals died on the 14^th of February after failing to recover from the injuries which had kept her in hospital for more than 15 days. Casals was hit by a bicycle in Barcelona and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

The Catalan government’s highest distinction

The award is the highest prize given to those individuals or institutions whose work in the political, social, economic, cultural or scientific field has been outstanding. Last year, Neus Català, the only living Catalan survivor of the Ravensbrück Nazi concentration camp, was also honoured with the award, as was Catalan tenor Josep Carreras the previous year.