A group of a hundred public figures have signed an open letter expressing support for Catalan president Quim Torra and his commitment "to civil disobedience". The letter, from former MEP Josep Maria Terricabras (ERC), former mayor of Arbúcies (1979-2003) Jaume Soler and philologist Antoni Strubell, was published yesterday by the newspaper Punt Avui.
"We trust in the commitment you express to civil disobedience due to the value you've demonstrated recently in refusing to renounce the right to [freedom of] expression. We encourage you to strengthen your government and deepen its effective and republican profile at a time when a high percentage of Catalans, and of citizens of all the Catalan Countries and of the rest of the Spanish state, reject the sentence, the monarchy and the application of [article] 155," they write. Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution was the one used in 2017 to suspend Catalan autonomy; the sentence they refer to is the upcoming verdict from the Supreme Court against pro-independence leaders, some having been held in provisional detention for almost two years.
"You've managed to find a path between the spirit of loyalty to the declared Republic and the need to preserve self-government whilst we create the conditions to implement it," the letter continues. "We are convinced that at this decisive moment of the process you will have an important role as corresponds to your pro-independence activism and the responsibility of your office."
The other signatories include: Toni Albà, Agustí Colomines i Companys, Ramón Cotarelo García, Xavier Diez Rodriguez, Henry Ettinghausen, Josep Guia, Francesc Guillamet i Ferran, Enric Majó Miró, Sergi Mateu Vives, Enric Pujol i Casademont, Carme Sansa i Albert, Josep Maria Solé i Sabaté, Mariona Vigués Julià and Patrícia Vila Armangué. They include people from the worlds of academia, the law and entertainment, among other fields.