Grassroots groups call for rally to support Forcadell on court hearing day

The ANC, Òmnium, and the AMI are proposing that a delegation of elected officials accompany the Speaker of the House to court. They will also call for demonstrations the day before at City Hall plazas.

Núria Orriols
2 min
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Pro-independence grassroots groups will take action against legal challenges to the independence process. If this past November 13th they succeeded in bringing together close to 80,000 people on Barcelona’s Avinguda Maria Cristina, now they are preparing a rally to accompany Carme Forcadell, the Speaker of the House, who has been summoned to appear before the Catalan Superior Court of Justice (TSJC) on December 16th.

This newspaper has learned that the ANC, Òmnium, and the AMI are working on a show of support for Forcadell, similar to that received by Artur Mas on the day of his court statement over the November 9th consultation. They have called on elected officials and mayors to meet in front of Parliament at 8:15 a.m. to accompany Carme Forcadell to the TSJC, and on citizens to meet at 9 a.m. outside the courthouse.

Sources familiar with the event being prepared have said that it must be “a show of force" because the Spanish government "is attacking" the second highest-ranking authority in Catalonia. They are saying that this must present an image “on a par with" what was achieved when Mas appeared before the TSJC.

The idea is for a delegation of elected officials and mayors to walk with Forcadell from the Parc de la Ciutadella to Arc de Triomf, where the TSJC is located in Barcelona city. A citizens’ rally in her support and held by the ANC and Òmnium is planned before the courthouse starting at 9 a.m. In addition, sources from the organizations explain that they are planning multiple demonstrations in City Hall plazas the evening before, Friday the 15th, where a joint manifesto will be read against the judicialization of politics.

Forcadell, indicted

At the end of October, the TSJC agreed to hear a complaint filed by the Prosecutor´s Office against Forcadell for allowing a vote on the constituent process committee´s conclusions, which was initially banned by Spain’s Constitutional Court. The Speaker had appealed the start of an investigation, claiming that neither the Prosecutor’s Office nor the courts have "any power to restrict free speech in Parliament", nor to "censure the content of debates between elected representatives". The court, however, dismissed the appeal a few days ago and advised her that she has not been charged over “debating ideas" but, rather, for alleged disobedience in allowing the vote.

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