Independence platforms, which have the support of the Local Council for the Republic, continue to blame the Spanish State for the terrorist attacks committed by a jihadist cell in August 2017 and have counter-programmed the institutional tribute to the victims organized for this Wednesday with a concentration of protest.
The platform 17A Demand Responsibilities, the Committees for the Freedom of Prisoners and Catalan Political Reprisals and Teatre amb R de República are behind this initiative, with the support of the local Council for the Catalan Republic.
His thesis is that "there are still many unanswered questions" because "the State that committed serious omissions in the protection of life, now does not want to guarantee the right to the truth of the relatives of the victims" who died or were injured in the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils. These groups will demand that the community institutions intervene to clarify the role of the State and organizations such as the CNI in the terrorist actions of five years ago.
For this reason, they have called three rallies for Wednesday on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the attacks, which left 16 dead and more than 140 injured in the two actions they carried out: the massive outrage with a van on Las Ramblas and an attack with knives and fake explosive belts in the coastal town.
These pro-independence platforms will attend this Wednesday at 10 a.m. to gather in the same place where the Barcelona City Council has convened the official act of homage to the victims of the terrorists, with a floral and musical offering. Later, at 12 noon they have called another rally in front of the European Commission headquarters in Barcelona and in the afternoon at 6 pm they are promoting another protest mobilization in the Plaza del Rey, in the city's Gothic quarter.
In this regard, the Catalan Association of Victims of Terrorist Organizations (Acvot) has criticized that politicians such as the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont, president of the Consell per la República, use the attacks to promote "anger against the State". The president of the Acvot, José Vargas, thus valued that the so-called Consell per la República Catalana has released a statement calling for an end to the "impunity" of the State regarding the 17-A attacks. In this regard, Vargas accused Puigdemont and the groups related to him of wanting to "make noise" about the fifth anniversary of 17-A to "keep the flame of the anger burning against the Spanish State and against the Ministry of the Interior".
