There is no reason that the coronavirus should prevent the organization of a mass demonstration on September 11th this year, according to Catalonia's president in exile, Carles Puigdemont, who told the radio station RAC1 that this September's celebrations on the Diada - the Catalan National Day - will have to be organized in a way that respects social distancing and other measures in place in response to the epidemic at the time.
But the exiled leader believes that Catalans could nevertheless put together a remarkable event this September. In an interview coinciding with Sant Jordi's Day this Thursday - another usually-massive Catalan festival which has been disrupted this year by Covid-19 measures - Puigdemont commented that the "vast-scale choreography of a mass demonstration that respects the terms of lockdown could go around the world. It would fit into the pattern of the huge rallies that we have been organizing every year since 2012."
Puigdemont, a member of the European Parliament, warned that the right to protest must not be altered by the pandemic. In this regard, he noted that there are precedents: that Israel gave permission for a protest against the government which was successfully held, with 1.5-metre distances being respected between those taken part. “So if a demonstration is to be called, this has to be anticipated,” he commented.
Later, in an interview with Catalan television, the exiled president also warned against the current tendency of states to reduce citizens' rights with the justification that such measures are necessary to fight the pandemic. He warned that people must not remain passive in the face of the risk to their basic rights.
Puigdemont mentioned that this trend is being seen in "large states". In Spain, he said, the presence of military and uniformed personnel at government press conferences on the coronavirus situation was just one symptom of this.
During the interview he commented that the Spanish government's response to the coronavirus pandemic has not left a positive image in the international press. "The facts show that Spain is not in a good position," he observed.