Following the arrest of nine Catalan separatist leaders on 14th October 2019, Monday and subsequent jailed terms been announced by the Supreme Court to them, protest and clashes have been sparked around the regions in Spain.
Around the same, Manchester City’s coach Pep Guardiola has released a short video wearing a yellow ribbon upon international broadcasting media TV3, BBC, and AFP in which he had labelled the arrest of Catalan leaders as an attack on Human Rights and termed the whole action as Spain’s drift towards authoritarianism.
Pep Guardiola quoted as saying on El Nacional, “This non-violent struggle will not stop until the repression is over the right to self-determination is respected, as has been done in Quebec or Scotland. We demand a political and democratic solution from the Spanish government. What we ask is Spain: Sit down and Talk”
Calling for the International interventions Guardiola added, “We ask international civil society to press their governments to intervene in this conflict and find political and democratic solutions. We call on the international community to clearly position itself through a conflict resolution based on dialogue and respect. We reiterate, in this framework, there is only one way: Sit and Talk, Sit and Talk.
Seeing the circumstances beyond control, the Spanish Football Federation has called to reverse the 26th October El Clasico match being played between Real Madrid and Barcelona, which means that the match can be rescheduled.
The history of Barcelona and Real Madrid has often been very political. Barcelona though been created and run by foreigners, over the period of time became a club associated with Catalan values. Under Spain’s traditions to autocracy in 1925, Catalonia, unfortunately, became the hostile of Madrid’s government. When the hostility enhanced Barcelona’s image as a focal point for Catalonism, and Francisco Franco banned the use of the Catalan language, Barcelona stadium became one of the places where people came to express their dissatisfaction.
Taking the inspiration from the past whenever the Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital, play their matches at Champ Nou, fans traditionally chant for “Independence” exactly for 17 minutes and 14 seconds which actually signifies the year 1714 when Catalonia first lost its independence under the Madrid established court ruling
