Some forty members of the European Parliament from fifteen member states and four parliamentary groups have today worn yellow t-shirts in support of the release of the Catalan political prisoners during the plenary session in Strasbourg.
Some of the t-shirts read "Free Catalan political prisoners now", others said "Free" above images of imprisoned former vice-president Oriol Junqueras and foreign minister Raül Romeva. The action, organised by pro-independence party ERC, involved members of the EU-Catalonia dialogue platform and MEPs from countries like the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany and Austria.
The two political prisoners chosen for special focus in the protest, Junqueras and Romeva, have both previously served as MEPs. On Saturday, Junqueras announced he intends to head his party's candidacy for the next European Parliament elections.
#FreeRaul #FreeOriol #FreeThemAll ! Shame on Spain! Shame on @JunckerEU @TimmermansEU for using double standards. pic.twitter.com/KivKiUVuWQ
— Helga Stevens (@StevensHelga) October 3, 2018
Plenaire in Straatsburg kleurt geel. Laat de Catalaanse politieke gevangenen vrij! #FreeCatalanPoliticalPrisoners #FreeThemAll pic.twitter.com/CXp8XYfI5J
— Mark Demesmaeker (@markdemesmaeker) October 3, 2018
Also participating were politicians from Spanish parties PDeCAT, EAJ, IU and Podemos.
L'hemicicle d'Estrasburg avui s'ha tenyit de groc per demanar la llibertat de @raulromeva Oriol @junqueras i la resta de presos polítics. #LlibertatPresosPolítics #FreeThemAll #FreeJunqueras #FreeJunqueras pic.twitter.com/ckteyulybg
— Josep-M. Terricabras (@jmterricabras) October 3, 2018
Un grito de protesta, pluripartidario y plurinacional desde Estrasburgo en @Europarl_ES contra el injusto y antijurídico encarcelamiento de políticos y lideres sociales en Cataluña @EUCat_Dialogue #FreeThemAll No hay derecho pic.twitter.com/xnZGLFwuha
— Izaskun Bilbao (@IzaskunBilbaoB) October 3, 2018