Courts The judge orders the Sant Pol City Council to put the Spanish flag back
Municipal The Government Delegation denounces the outrage to the flag in Sant Pol de Mar
Offensive to end the 'war of flags' and the display of pro-independence symbols in Catalan public buildings, such as town halls that hang 'stars' or banners in favor of pro-independence prisoners convicted of sedition and who were pardoned after going through jail. The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) issued a ruling a few weeks ago in which it forced the City Council of Sant Pol de Mar (Barcelona) to remove a banner with the slogan "Llibertat, political prisoners". Although the resolution comes late since the Consistory decided to remove it months ago, the judicial decision opens the door to ask public corporations, such as city councils, to stop displaying pro-independence symbols since they violate neutrality.
In this way, Impulso Ciudadano, the entity that promoted the withdrawal of the sovereignist banner, plans to use this sentence as an argument to require the Sant Pol City Council itself, governed by ERC and the CUP, to remove the 'stellate' flag that flies on the facade. They consider that it does not comply with the judicial decision and the regulations on flags that exist in Spain since it is not any of the official ones, as the president of Impulso Ciudadano, José Domingo, explained to this medium.
The TSJC recalls in its last sentence referring to Sant Pol that "on public service assets, such as the building that is the headquarters of the City Council, especially on its facades, unofficial flags cannot be placed, as the Supreme Court has declared" as well as "neither posters or banners with a marked political content, as is the case with the one that was hung on the façade" of this Consistory. It details the court that can contravene neutrality in public spaces, of which the administrations must be guarantors.
Impulso Ciudadano reminded the TSJC that the placement of the banner on the facade of Sant Pol with the slogan "Llibertat political prisoners" was done "without formally adopting any agreement, and there is no serious disturbance of the general or third party interests in the withdrawal of the banner, which supposes the adoption by the council of a particular ideological option that constitutes a violation of legality insofar as it violates the principle of ideological neutrality of public entities, political pluralism and freedom of thought, constituting an excess of government action and misuse of power ".
Although the banner is no longer there, the presence of the 'estelada' in Sant Pol shows that it rains over wet in this municipality.
A decade ago, at the beginning of 2012, it became the first Catalan City Council to be forced by a court to place the Spanish flag again.
It was one of the victories of the then non-Sant Pol councilor, Enrique Abad, current mayor of the PSC in the same Consistory, who since then continues to fight for this decision of the Contentious-Administrative Court number 13 of Barcelona to be fulfilled.
Burned flag
In conversation with this medium, Enrique Abad, who in addition to being a socialist councilor is a member of Impulso Ciudadano, points out that after the judicial decision, which annulled a municipal agreement to remove the flag of Spain from the town hall building and the plenary hall, the then The mayor of CiU exhausted the deadlines for compliance and had to be required on several occasions. When he put it on, a few days later it disappeared, despite the fact that public offices can only access the balcony of the masts, and when he put it back or they burned it throwing burning tennis balls. There were even protests by pro-independence groups in front of the Town Hall due to the judicial decision, such as those that are so common now on issues such as the application of Spanish in the classrooms.
Abad explains that with the change of government in Sant Pol, and the entry of ERC, the Spanish flag was removed again and the councilor had to repeat his requirements, to the City Council itself and to the court, so that the judicial sentence was complied with and It will also be posted at the local police headquarters. After much claiming the Spanish flag, he returned to the municipal façade but with a "trap" since it is one that does not have the official shield, according to Impulso Ciudadano's complaint, and "it is tied to the mast" explains the councilor who remembers that the regulations specifies exactly what to wave.
"They tell me that the wind causes it to roll up but the other flags next to it, like the 'senyera', don't happen to them," says Abad, who details that a few months ago it spoiled the placement of the 'stellate' on the façade of the Consistory and the mayor "answered me that it is legal since it represents the independentistas."
"They are aware of their illegality but act with impunity," emphasizes the councilor.
Image from 2012 of when the flag was removed in Sant PolJ.
SOTERAS
However, the latest resolution of the TSJC gives the green light that the withdrawal of the independence emblem can be claimed, if the government team does not do it before, such as the banner in favor of the prisoners, to avoid problems with the Justice. And it is that the latest convictions for disobedience to positions of the Government, such as that of the former president of the Generalitat Quim Torra, marks a precedent if you want to avoid disqualification.
In this sense, the president of Impulso Ciudadano considers that if the courts sentenced municipal representatives to pay a fine for not complying with the flag law the first time and maintaining neutrality in public spaces, such as the façade of the town hall, they would it would put an end to the obstacles that are put in place to delay the execution of sentences.
In the presentation of the report on non-compliance with the flag regulations in Catalan city councils, only 13% comply, José Domingo asked that the "state, regional and European public funds" that can be delivered to a municipality "be conditioned" to the application of the legislation on symbols.
Escraches for doing politics
The councilor of the PSC in Sant Pol, Enrique Abad, considers that the municipality is "very radical" since he has suffered cracks in his house, with stones thrown and damage to the shutters included; They have torn off his mailbox, they have left garbage on his portal or they have painted targets with his name around the town. Complaint that the harassment began in 2009 when it took the municipal regulation of Sant Pol, which called for all documentation to be drawn up in Catalan, to the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) and it was annulled.
"There are groups of fascists who believe that their political ideas should prevail," says the socialist councilor who briefly passed through ERC when he considered it to be on the left, long before the independence process, but left soon.
Now he regrets that the sovereignist parties "live off the poses, to present motions that they know they have no political journey, that they are a toast to the sun" and he assures that he has also protested the quota that Sant Pol pays to the Association of Municipalities per la Independence (AMI).
That will be another battle.
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