Hundreds of supporters of Catalan independence on Sunday marched in Berlin to demand the release of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who was arrested in Germany last week and faces extradition to Spain on rebellion charges.
Huddled under umbrellas in the rainy German capital, the protesters walked from the Brandenburg Gate to the German Ministry of Justice, carrying banners reading “Free Puigdemont and the Catalan political prisoners” and “Spain is not a democracy.”
In an audio message from prison, Puigdemont addressed the protesters, urging them “not to let their guard down in the face of a state which is acting in an increasingly authoritarian way.”
It was their right to “decide on their future,” he added.
Many of the protesters also waved Catalonia’s blue, yellow and red separatist flag as they took part in the rally organized by the German branch of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), a grassroots pro-independence group.
“What we want to say is simply: Free our elected Catalan politicians,” said 34-year-old marketing worker Monica Zaldivar, who accused the Spanish government of using the courts to go after Catalan leaders instead of trying to find a political solution.
“For me, it’s about democracy in Spain,” she said.
One of the organizers, Ferran Cornella, said he estimated the crowd to number “400 or 500” people, while police gave a tally of more than 300 demonstrators.
Meanwhile in Catalonia, dozens of members of the radical Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR) blocked a highway linking Catalonia with France, erecting barriers at tolls, television images showed.
Puigdemont was on March 25 arrested by German highway police as he was travelling from Finland back to Belgium, where he had been living in self-imposed exile since Catalonia’s failed independence bid last October.
The detention came two days after a Spanish judge issued European arrest warrants for Puigdemont and other fugitive separatist leaders.
They have been ordered to stand trial for rebellion, misuse of public funds and disobeying the state for organizing last year’s referendum on Catalan independence, which Madrid deemed illegal.
Puigdemont’s arrest has sent tensions soaring at home, triggering a wave of protests in the wealthy northeastern autonomous Spanish region.
German judges have ordered Puigdemont to remain in custody in the northern town of Neumuenster as they mull Spain’s request for him to be handed over. They have 60 days to make a decision.
German media have said that the request has been complicated by the fact that rebellion, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in jail in Spain, is not a crime under German law.
In a tweet on his official account on Sunday, Puigdemont was quoted as saying that the independence referendum on Oct. 1 last year, held exactly six months ago, marked “the start of a new era from which there is no turning back.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese