Oriol Junqueras, Joaquim Forn, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart remain in prison and large portion of Catalan society continues to call for the release of the political prisoners. This time they are again taking advantage of a Barça match, specifically today's match in the Copa del Rey against Celta de Vigo at Camp Nou. Pro-independence organisations have handed out yellow banners bearing the word "llibertat" (freedom) before the match for fans to hold up inside the stadium.
This is another demonstration aiming to express their disagreement with the current situation of the two members of the Catalan government and the leaders of the ANC (Catalan National Assembly) and Òmnium Cultural. In the last few months, the colour yellow, especially yellow ribbon loops, has become the symbol of support for the release of the political prisoners.
Fighting injustice
The organisations ANC, Òmnium, Plataforma Pro Seleccions Catalanes and Drets have handed out 20,000 banners before the match. A new initiative for the Cup match to turn one colour, with one aim. Francesc Cara, coordinating the efforts for ANC, explained that "today three people who are unjustly imprisoned have gone to testify and this is a great stage for the people to realise this".
"All fans of Barça at this type of event are 100% our accomplices," said Cara. "The aim is for the banners to be show 17 minutes, 14 seconds [into the match]," he said. 1714 is a symbolic number for the independence movement as that year 1714 saw the fall of Barcelona at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession which led to Catalonia losing a variety of powers to Madrid.
They also plan to unfurl two larger banners (15x4 metres, 49x13 feet) bearing the words "freedom" and "llibertat". This time they haven't had any problems getting permission, not having UEFA in the way, and the banners should be able to be displayed without any problems.
As Barça's song goes, they want to "make the whole stadium one call".