Barcelona City Council approves measure to deny permits for far-right protests

The council of Barcelona has approved a proposal put forward by the left-wing CUP party, that could effectively prevent far-right protests from taking place in the city streets, by allowing the refusal to give them permission.

Organizers of protests must ask the Catalan government’s Interior Ministry for permission to occupy the streets, which then asks the city's council whether protesting in the area in question is possible. 

Only the Catalan People’s Party (PPC) and Ciutadans (Cs) voted against the proposal, which received votes in favour from Barcelona in Common, ERC, PSC, CUP, the Democratic Group, and one independent councillor.

A condemnation of fascist violence

CUP has stated that it refuses to grant permits for extreme right protests, urging the council to take an active role in the condemnation of far-right aggressions that have taken place in the city.

During the committee, several initiatives were discussed in relation to the fascist violence that took place either during or after unionist demonstrations called in favour of a united Spain.

ERC councillor Jordi Coronas pointed out that the majority of people participating in demonstrations in favour of Spain’s unity do so in a peaceful way, but also added that these concentrations "always end with incidents." The reason, in his opinion, is that the institutional discourse of the State and the media "feed it and do not condemn it."

According to CUP’s Maria Rovira, far-right groups “have shown their claws and teeth when the dictator’s order has been jeopardized,” in order to preserve the unification of Spain. She added that this served well for some parties, otherwise “they would stop going to these demonstrations,” referring to announcements made by the pro-Spain Catalan Civil Society.

A councillor from the Democratic Group, Jordi Martí, complained that there was a “sense of impunity” surrounding fascist aggressions.

"Totalitarian" 

Although the PPC councillor condemned fascist aggressions, she insisted that they are “exceptional,” criticizing the proposal as totalitarian and saying that “they are generalizing isolated cases that we have condemned.”

The Cs leader at the City Council, Carina Mejías, accused the pro-independence councillors of lying. These initiatives "criminalize those who think differently," she said.

Both PPC and Cs were accused of “surrendering to fascism because their votes are being disputed,” by ERC’s Jordi Coronas, in response to their statements.

Other topics discussed in the meeting included how to increase prevention and security in demonstrations organized or participated in by fascist groups, as well the usual conflict points where violent incidents occur, such as reinforcing coordination between the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Guardia Urbana.