Spain bans Catalan separatist flag during Copa del Rey final, as Catalan president announces he will not attend


The Copa del Rey final between Barcelona and Seville, which will take place next Sunday in Madrid, will play out in an arena that extends beyond the Vicente Calderon football stadium.

Yesterday, the Spanish government’s representative in Madrid, Concepción Dancausa, banned the display of Catalan separatist flags at the stadium. Following this announcement, prominent Catalan officials have expressed outrage at the measure and have said they will not be attending the final if the ban is not withdrawn. The first to weigh in was the president of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, followed by the mayor of Barcelona, ​​Ada Colau.

“The ban has surprised me greatly, as it goes against freedom of expression”, said Puigdemont. “We are talking about a legal, democratic flag that represents freedom to the millions of Catalans who uphold it. This is an attack on freedom of expression”.

Colau, for her part, posted a comment on social media saying that if Barcelona wins, the victory will be celebrated together with the team on its return to Catalonia, and that all flags will be welcome.

Barcelona, meanwhile, is weighing an official response that could go as far as having its president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, skip the final as well. The club will issue its response in the next seventy-two hours, said club vice president, Carles Vilarrubí.

“The atmosphere for the match is certainly not the best, but we are not the ones who have created it”, he said. Vilarrubí ruled out cancelling the game and said that the team will play the final.

No to separatist flags, yes to neo-Nazis
At the same time that Spanish government officials in Madrid banned the Catalan separatist flag from the Copa del Rey final, they authorized a neo-Nazi demonstration that will be held on Saturday in Madrid. The known neo-Nazi group Hogar Social Madrid has been given the green light to demonstrate on the streets under the slogan “Defend Spain, defend your people”, a march that will take place concurrently with other far-right demonstrations in various European cities.