Festival flags provoke a Catalan fracas

TENSIONS over Catalonia’s self-styled independence vote erupted into a bizarre scuffle in Barcelona yesterday as opposing politicians competed to hang the Spanish and Catalan flags from the city hall balcony.

Two councillors from the Leftist, pro-independence party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) were attending the opening of the annual La Mercè festival when they began to unfurl the Catalan estelada in front of the gathered crowd. A politician from the Popular Party of Catalonia (PPC), the regional branch of Spain’s ruling conservative party, then tried to hang the Spanish national flag – leading to a tussle on the balcony while the crowd below jeered and bellowed pro-independence slogans.

“We hung our flag as a spontaneous gesture, it is often hung from balconies on the patron saint’s (La Mercè) day, but not from the city hall,” Alfred Bosch, one of the ERC councillors, told The Local news website. “Suddenly this guy from the PP came up behind me and tried to place the Spanish flag on the balcony over our heads.” The spat continued as the PPC’s Alberto Fernández Díaz refused to take down the Spanish flag unless the estelada was also removed.

Political tensions have been high ahead of Sunday’s regional elections, which have been styled as a vote on whether Catalonia should separate from Spain. Nationalist leaders of the wealthy north-east region have vowed to declare Catalonia independent within 18 to 24 months if they win a majority of seats in the regional assembly in the polls.