Pro-independence groups to avoid Barcelona attacks’ remembrance event over king’s presence

Pro-independence groups in Catalonia have announced that they will not attend the remembrance ceremony to be held in Barcelona on Friday, one year after the terror attacks, to protest against the presence of Spain’s king Felipe VI.

Elisenda Paluzie, the president of the grassroots Catalan National Assembly (ANC), rejected an invitation from Ada Colau, the mayor of the city. She will instead attend a rally held at the Lledoners prison, in Catalonia, where the former interior minister Joaquim Forn is jailed for his role in the independence bid.

A highly unpopular figure in Catalonia, Felipe VI infuriated independence supporters when he spoke to condemn last October’s referendum and made no mention of police’s violent crackdown on voters.

Most Catalan government members were subsequently either imprisoned, like Forn, or left the country to avoid prosecution, like former president Carles Puigdemont.