Torra calls for a defense of freedom and civil disobedience ‘when necessary’

President Quim Torra has called for civil disobedience "when necessary," as the country braces itself for the two year anniversary of the independence referendum and the verdict of the Catalan Trial that followed the independence push. 

Torra explained that what needs to be done "in the times that will come" is to defend freedom "to the last," and the Catalan leader considers that there is "no small battle" in the defense of this freedom. 

"Today I want to encourage you to claim freedom with the formula we know; democratic radicalism, republicanism, civil, social and political rights, non-violence and, when necessary, civil disobedience," said the president. 

Torra made these statements at the inauguration of a new exhibition of the paintings of Catalan artist Joan Jordà, who lived and worked in exiled in France in February 1939.

Torra praised Jordà for "disobeying" and going into exile, and asked the attendees to be "very Jordà" in the sense of defending freedom.