Barca, Espanyol, Girona down shutters to back Catalan independence

BARCELONA: After a 15 minute "pen down" protest on Monday, iconic Spanish club FC Barcelona stepped up its support for the calls for independence in the Catalan region of Spain along with two other La Liga clubs Espanyol and Girona, downing shutters to join a region-wide general strike in Catalonia on Tuesday. 

The call by Catalonia's Taula per la Democràcia (Democracy Board) came in the wake of more than 840 people needing medical attention over the weekend after riot police clashed with some of those attempting to participate in a controversial vote on secession, which the Spanish government had ruled illegal.

FC Barcelona also issued a statement on Sunday condemning "the actions that were repeated in so many different parts of Catalonia to prevent people from exercising their democratic rights and freely expressing their opinions. Given the exceptional nature of the circumstances, the board of directors decided to play the game against Las Palmas behind closed doors following La Liga’s refusal to allow the fixture to be postponed".

Barcelona had on Sunday played its La Liga home fixture against Las Palmas behind closed doors. Images of the game played at an empty Camp Nou were broadcast in 174 countries around the world with millions of people following the unusual circumstances in which the game was played. 

Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu said he had accepted the resignations of Barcelona vice-president Carles Vilarrubi and director Jordi Mones, who opposed the decision to play behind closed doors.

Vilarrubi and Mones are believed to have been in favour of Barca refusing to play, even if it meant incurring a sporting sanction of forfeiting the match against Las Palmas and being docked a further three points by La Liga.

FC Barcelona star Gerard Pique’s tears of sadness and the vast empty stands as his team reluctantly played were two of the defining football related images of a violence-scarred independence referendum in Catalonia.

Pique, an outspoken defender of the wealthy northeastern Spanish region’s right to self-determination, had been able to cast his vote in an independence referendum deemed illegal by Madrid without obstruction on Sunday morning, AFP reports.

For the record, more than 90 per cent of those who managed to vote supported independence from Spain.