The moment when the President of Spain Pedro Sánchez visits the wounded cops at the Hospital de Sant Pau (Barcelona, Catalonia). Monday 21st October 2019.
Picture our current situation:
citizens of Catalonia have been protesting non-stop for 7 days after a group of pro-independence activists and politicians (including the vicepresident of Catalonia, the president of the Parliament of Catalonia, and other members of government) were condemned by the Spanish Supreme Court to 100 years of jail combined, under stupid excuses to “hide” the fact that they are condemned only for their role in the independentists movement.
police have brutally unleashed their violence against the protestors, with officially at least 579 protestors who had to be attended by emergency medical teams as a result of the policemen’s violence. 4 of those injured have lost an eye when the police shot rubber bullets to their face.
179 protestors have been arrested, and 28 of them are in jail.
58 journalists have resported being injured by the police, and at least 1 journalist was arrested when taking photos of police violence.
meanwhile, there are still 7 more random citizens who were jailed on September 23rd for being pro-independence, and still have not had a trial.
the ex-president of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont, a few ministers/secretaries of the (legally democratically elected!) Catalan government, politician Marta Rovira (of the socialdemocrat independentist party) and Anna Gabriel (of the anticapitalist independentist party), rap singer Valtònyc (condemned for the lyrics of his songs where he was against the Spanish monarchy stealing public money), and activist Adrià Carrasco are still on exile, some of them have been for over 2 years, and would be immediately incarcerated for made-up crimes if they were to set foot on Spanish territory
protests block main highways, railways, the center of important cities of Catalonia everyday, and do not plan to stop
students have been on strike since at least last friday (in some universities even earlier that week)
The regional government of Catalonia keeps calling the Spanish government to talk about what is going on and negociate, but the Spanish president refuses to pick up the phone and the Spanish government says they will not talk to the Catalan government.
In this desperated situation of ongioing protests and repression, the president of Spain decides to visit Catalonia, but only so he can visit the “injured” policemen in the hospital.
How little empathy can one have to do such a thing?
Of course, the president of Catalonia, Quim Torra, used the opportunity to invite the Spanish president to a meeting. Yet again, he refused to meet with any Catalan representatives.
When the president of Spain was leaving the hospital, as you can see in the video, the doctors and nurses protested and told him to go away. These are doctors who have been attending the hundreds of protestors gravely injured by the police. And now the president comes to visit just these few cops who aren’t even that hurt??
A translation of what you can hear the doctors shout in the video include “get out!”, “you asshole”, “talk to us!” (a reference to the fact that Catalan protestors are demanding the Spanish government negociate with the Catalan government or Catalan civil organizations), but mostly they chant “freedom for the political prisoners”.