Exiled Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has called on Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to "listen to Catalonia". In an interview (in French) published in the Canadian newspaper Le Droit, Puigdemont asked the Canadian authorities not to view the Catalan question as an "internal issue". And addressing himself to prime minister Trudeau, the Catalan president said: "You are not obliged to support independence, however, please, listen to us".
Puigdemont warned Canadian society that Spanish repression "is a bad sign for other people who might want to become independent in the future", such as Quebec. "If democracy is in danger in any place, democracy is also in danger all over the world", he said.
According to the president, the Spanish reaction to the Catalan conflict is evidence that in Europe fascism still exists, and he explained that his exile in Brussels has to serve to make an international outcry against the violations of rights carried out by the Spanish state.