Catalan president Quim Torra has been taken to task by protesters from a pro-independence CDR group in an impromptu meeting this Saturday in the town of Sabadell. Torra was attending an event for the JxCat (Together for Catalonia) political party, when he found himself face to face with a CDR (Committee for Defence of the Republic) group who told him they intend to keep the squeeze on his government. At the same time, CDR members assured the president that they won't leave the government's side, but will continue to pressure him so that he himself keeps up the intensity.
For his part, president Torra told them that they have to keep fighting for the unity of the independence movement, since, in the end, everyone has the same goal; he expressed his surprise that the CDR hadn't taken part in the JxCat event. Specifically, Torra said that if both the 1st October 2017 referendum and the one-day national stoppage on 3rd October were possible, it was because the whole of the independence movement was united. The president stressed that he has been in politics for ten months.
In addition, Torra said that the work of the Mossos police should be respected when they act as a judicial police force for the Spanish justice system, following the raids made on several Catalan schools to remove yellow ribbons, in compliance with orders from the public prosecution service.
"You're heading the wrong way"
One of the members of the CDR complained to Torra that he was not moving towards Catalan independence, but rather "the government is heading in the opposite direction" to the election promises they had made.
Torra replied that he is still moving in the same direction as he promised in his swearing-in speech, but the protesters responded that if that was the case, the people aren't receiving the message the government is sending.