Pere Aragonès will not attend the demonstration organized by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC). The president of the Generalitat has considered that it would not be coherent for him to appear in the mobilization in Barcelona, since the entity raises it, in his opinion, against the Catalan political parties and institutions, "and not against the Spanish State". He also considers that he delves into the disputes and divergences that there are now in the independence movement.
In fact, on the website where the ANC presents the Onze de Setembre demonstration, there is a clear rejection of political formations. "No more waiting for anything from the parties. Only the people and organized civil society will be able to achieve independence. The victory of 1-O and the pro-independence majority in Parliament cannot be wasted in dialogue tables with the Spanish State and internal brawls (...) Let's leave the parties behind", reads the text. In the manifesto there is even doubt that there are pro-independence parties, when referring to "self-appointed pro-independence parties".
Aragonès' decision, advanced by RAC1 and confirmed by La Vanguardia, may cause a stir among sovereignists. Several JxCat ministers confirmed yesterday to this newspaper that they will attend the ANC demonstration, including Gemma Geis, Violant Cervera and Jaume Giró. The Vice President of the Government, Jordi Puigneró, confirmed his presence today. Also the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, who assured this newspaper yesterday. It remains to be seen if the ministers of Esquerra will support the president. Aragonès will emulate Artur Mas, who, for other reasons, did not attend the Assemblea demonstrations while he was at the head of the Catalan Executive. Since 2016, all the presidents had participated.
In any case, sources from the presidency of the Generalitat emphasize that the head of the Government believes that independence will only achieve its objective if the streets, the parties and the institutions go hand in hand, and that independence is the objective of his Government, "using the tools that are necessary".
"The president is in favor of sharing all the spaces for vindication and protest that they seek to add and that pursue greater transversality within the independence movement because he considers that only if the independence movement works together in diversity will the goal of freedom be achieved," point out sources from the head of the government In addition, he demands that the independence movement "avoid looking at each other sideways among fellow travelers." something that he, in his opinion, ponders with the manifestation of the ANC.
The unknown about the president's attendance at an act convened with an openly hostile spirit towards the independence parties, especially for ERC, remained yesterday when the Government presented yesterday the Diada poster and this year's institutional acts.
It so happens that this very Friday the president of the Catalan National Assembly, Dolors Feliu, in an interview with La Vanguardia, considered that if President Aragonès did not attend the demonstration "he would not be involved with independence" and that a politician that you don't want to go to a place "where you know hundreds of thousands of people have a problem.
That Aragonès does not participate in the demonstration of the ANC of the Onze de Setembre does not mean that it rejects that citizens attend. The president considers that the demand for independence in the streets is one of the "central and fundamental elements" of the movement.
Be that as it may, the president of the Generalitat has not even considered giving up several acts that will take place that same day, such as the floral offering to the statue of Rafael Casanova in Barcelona and the subsequent one in Sant Boi, in addition to other acts organized by different entities, ending in the institutional act of the festivity in Montjuïc.
