FC Barcelona Says Enough is Enough of Spanish Brutality and Calls for An Allegiance to the Catalan Stared Flag

FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has confirmed that the club will not hold the planned tribute to the Spanish World Cup-winning international players this Thursday, but will instead hold an "act of exaltation of the Catalan independence flag." In this context, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural have called for Camp Nou to be filled with Catalan independence flags this Thursday. The decision comes after the controversy generated in Elx, where Catalan independence flags were confiscated from Barça fans, and police charges occurred, including an assault on a Barça member with whom the club has been in contact.

“This is neither the context nor the most appropriate time to pay this tribute. Football should serve to unite, not to generate confrontations that benefit no one,” stated Laporta, who defended the Estelada as a legal symbol protected by freedom of expression and representing a part of the Catalan fanbase and society. “It is a way of expressing ourselves peacefully that does not generate violence or hatred. The Estelada must be respected because it represents our aspirations for freedom,” asserted the Barça president.

Laporta also reiterated his condemnation of the “disproportionate and violent actions” of the National Police officers who, he alleged, “assaulted a Barça member” in the moments leading up to the match against Elche. “The images are appalling and very clear. “Once the facts have been reconfirmed, we demand that the appropriate sanctions and punishments be applied,” he stated. In this context, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) has called for a massive display of Catalan independence flags (estelades) at Camp Nou this Thursday in protest against the police actions in Elche. The ANC has announced that it will distribute 10,000 estelades around the stadium before the match between Barça and Athletic Club. They have called for attendees to gather at 8:15 p.m. in the Josep Munté Gardens, from where they will proceed to Gate 15 of Camp Nou to distribute the flags. The call also questions the tribute initially planned for the Barça players who won the World Cup with the Spanish national team.

The ANC has raised the tone of its call:  “Cap homenatge a la selecció dels opressors! Contra la seva catalanofòbia, demostrem més que mai la nostra força”. "No tribute to the selection of the oppressors! Against their Catalanophobia, we demonstrate our strength more than ever."The organization denounces that "the Spanish police and colonizers attack independent minors and requisition estelades, while they hear chants of 'Puta Catalunya' in the states."