• Madrid. 26 injured and 12 arrested after clashes between radicals and police
  • Riots. Marlaska defends "proportionality" in police action to curb "violent independence"
  • The cops. "We've been close to losing the battle. They were looking for a dead man."

The President of the Government in office is not willing to speak with Quim Torra until the President of Catalonia does not condemn the violence that has been experienced in the city of Barcelona since October 14, the date on which the sentence of the process was known. This was communicated by the acting Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, after the meeting held, this Saturday, in the Moncloa Palace with the monitoring committee of the situation in Catalonia.

After a meeting that has lasted three hours and has been chaired by Pedro Sánchez and the acting vice president, Carmen Clavo, the minister has appeared before the media to make it clear to Torra that the Government puts conditions for dialogue.

The first, "that all political forces get rid of violence." And the second, "that Torra and his Government condemn firmly and emphatically, without adjectives and without half measures, the violence" - made that "nobody understands that they have not done so yet," Grande-Marlaska has warned - and that they show "your solidarity with the State Security Forces and Bodies". "Democracy, yes; violence, never," the minister reiterated twice

This warning comes 24 hours after Quim Torra sent, on the afternoon of this Saturday, a letter to Sánchez regarding the refusal of the acting President of the Government to answer his telephone calls. The Catalan president described the attitude of Pedro Sánchez as "irresponsible" and reproached him for giving him "lessons" in the fight against violence, later launching a message in which he made it clear that he will continue to defend Catalonia's right to self-determination. The Catalan president is willing to talk with the Government, but "of the legitimate right of Catalonia to exercise its right of self-determination."

Grande-Marlaska has framed the riots in Barcelona in "a public order problem". In fact, he has been concerned to repeat it repeatedly during his appearance. "We are facing a public order problem," he said. "This is a strictly public order problem," he repeated. "Those who are in public disorder are facing the Criminal Code," recalled the minister.

"The State acts. We continue to detain those who carry out violent acts," continued Grande-Marlaska, who has justified Sánchez's inaction in which the response given by "the rule of law is of public order," stating that they are the State Forces those that have acted "to neutralize the violence". "No one can be ambiguous before violent issues," he said.

The data provided by Grande-Marlaska after the meeting with the monitoring committee of the situation in Catalonia produced 288 injured agents - 153 mossos, 134 national police and an urban guard - and 267 shattered vehicles. There have been 194 arrests and there are 18 people in pretrial detention.

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Know more

  • Catalonia
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Quim Torra
  • Barcelona
  • Fernando Grande-Marlaska
  • Violence Catalonia
  • Proced judgment

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