One of the key figures in the foundation of major Spanish right-wing party Ciudadanos (Cs) has been caught red-handed by police spraypainting political graffiti in the middle of the night. Arcadi Espada, a journalist and member of the embryonic group from which the anti-Catalan-independence party was founded, found himself under arrest and charged along with seven other people on Saturday morning in the coastal town of Ametlla de Mar near Barcelona. The local police caught them in the act of spraying a large Spanish flag on the base of a sculpture, situated in a roundabout at the town's entrance. A yellow bow, symbol of solidarity with the imprisoned and exiled Catalan leaders, which had been planted beside the sculpture, was also repainted in Spanish colours.
The town's mayor, Jordi Gaseni, confirmed these facts and complained that "organized crime has once again sullied the roundabout". "This is the way they do things", he concluded.
The organized delinquency dirties again the roundabout of the entry|ticket d l'#AmetlladeMar. Do not be dirty|gross! Respect the public space which keeping clean is very difficult. #LlibertatPresosPolítics pic.twitter.com/adsNjVnVfM
— August jordigaseni (@jordigaseni) 23, 2018
Engantxats and denounced urban furniture dirtying Arcadi Espada and 7 chillis more in the roundabout of l'#ametllademar. This is its|his|her|their way to make. They are some gross and we have it earned! #Seguim #RepublicaCatalana #llibertatpresospolitics pic.twitter.com/Pv3KcEWpuZ
— August jordigaseni (@jordigaseni) 25, 2018
The nighttime graffiti group, organized in four vehicles, had just painted a huge Spanish flag on the base of the sculpture in the middle of the roundabout when the police arrived, and in fact two of the four cars had left moments before the local officers pulled up at the roundabout. As the mayor put it, the members treated the arrival of the police as a joke and filmed them with their mobiles while identification procedures were performed.
Image: ACN
The police have already laid charges against the group and the town council has stated that it will consider what steps to take and whether it will press its own charges to avoid the incident from being repeated.
In 2006, Barcelona-born journalist Arcadi Espada was one of a small group who launched the platform Ciutadans de Catalunya (Citizens of Catalonia), which was the embryo of the Ciudadanos (Citizens) party, now the fourth largest party in the Spanish parliament. In fact, in an article published this week in the Madrid newspaper El Mundo, Espada defined himself as a "predator against yellow ribbons” and stated his support for "sanitizing public spaces”.
This is not the first time that the town of Ametlla de Mar has been hit by this type of incident involving Spanish nationalists. In June, the extremist platform Resistencia Alta Tabarnia played a key role in several incidents. On those occasions, however, no members of the group were identified.