Barcelona express solidarity with Catalan separatist leader Torra after Spain upholds ban

Barcelona have released a statement expressing their support and solidarity with Catalonia’s separatist leader Quim Torra, after Spain’s Supreme Court upheld a ban on him from holding public office for 18 months.

The decision came this week after Torra refused a request to remove a pro-independence symbol from a government building ahead of last year’s general election.

The 57-year-old defended himself on the grounds of freedom of expression and had been appealing against an earlier verdict in a lower court.

The statement from the Blaugrana read that they believed the decision was “disproportionate and seriously violates the democratic will of the citizens freely expressed at the polls.”

The club once again reiterated how the decision from Spain’s Supreme Court was against their ethos of “freedom of expression and the right to decide” on issues such as these.

The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Mr Torra’s ban on Monday triggered immediate calls for protests across the North-Eastern region of Spain, which held a highly contentious independence referendum in October 2017, which the Spanish state failed to recognise as it was not deemed to be constitutional.

Barcelona’s role as a club has been scrutinised in recent years due to their stature and significance within Catalonia.

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