Constitutional law professor Javier Pérez Royo was blunt in his description of the judicial situation experienced by Catalonia in the year since the independence referendum on 1st October 2017. "Catalonia does not have a constitution, it has a criminal code", he said at the conclusion of the seminar 1st October and more. Barcelona, city of rights, which was held over the weekend at Barcelona's now-disused Model prison. Pérez Royo remarked ironically that this was "Mariano Rajoy's contribution to constitutional law".
Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, professor Javier Pérez Royo, spokesperson for civil group Òmnium Cultural, Marcel Mauri, and actor Alberto San Juan concluded the seminar centred on the 1st October independence referendum
The Universidad de Sevilla professor, who recognized "the complexity" of everything to do with the 1st October issue, affirmed that in Spain "there is no awareness" of how that day was experienced in Catalonia. He says that Spaniards have received messages that amount to "put flags out on your balconies" and "let's go get 'em", but they have no idea of what Catalans went through that day.
For Pérez Royo, the problem between Catalonia and Spain goes far beyond the 1st October; he referred to the negotiation of Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy, the 2006 referendum for its approval and its subsequent major cut-down by Spain's Constitutional Court. In this regard, he gave some credit to the current Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez: "He is only one to have recognized that the Statute of Catalonia is not the one that Catalans voted for".
At the event, the spokesman for Cultural Òmnium, Marcel Mauri, read words from the pro-independence cultural group's president, Jordi Cuixart, imprisoned almost a year ago. Cuixart's text affirmed that Catalonia "has gone a long way and will get back to that point again", and that he is convinced that "the pride and the determination with which we defeated the police truncheons will stay with us in the days ahead". The text concluded with this message: "When you stick with your principles, there can be more freedom in a prison cell than in a state".
The last speaker was the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, who once again declared that "violence must not become accepted as normal" and also called for the "release of the political prisoners". Colau also said that the Barcelona city council shouldn't tell people "what to think, whether to be independent or not, but rather it has to guarantee the fundamental rights of all citizens".