The Catalan National Assembly (ANC) held a debate about the freedom of speech in Spain, on Friday, October the 26th, in Eindhoven (The Netherlands). The debate counted with the presence of the minister in exile Toni Comin, the writer Laia Fàbregas and a representative of the PiratenPartij Utrecht.
Laia Fàbregas explained how the freedom of speech is threatened by the Spanish legal system, that systematically represses critical opinions by using legal means as the ‘gag law’, the ‘anti-terrorist law’ or by means of police brutality, as in the case of the photojournalist Jordi Borràs, Pablo Hazel, Valtonyc among many others.
Dmitri, from the Piratenpartij Utrecht explained how they have witnessed the repression of the Spanish government against Catalan voters on the 1st of October 2017 and their experience assisting in the Catalan national day with foreign Friends of Catalonia.
Finally, Toni Comin explained the impasses of the Catalan government and Parliament to approve and implement different laws regarding important social policies in Catalonia and eventually the difficulties to hold a referendum about the self-determination of Catalonia. Comín explained the origin of those impasses and the barriers set in the Spanish legal framework, and the Francoist staff still occupying relevant position in the constitutional Court to block any kind of political reform in Spain.
This debate is part of a series of events organised by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) in the Netherlands called catalaanse Avonden (Catalan evenings) to explain to the population in The Netherlands the current political situation in Catalonia. Previously, ANC-Nederland has organised similar debates in the cities of Amsterdam and Utrecht and the next debate will be held in the city of The Hague (Den Haag) the coming Friday the 9th of November.