Catalan Trial: Day 48 summary

On Tuesday, the 48th day of the Catalan Trial in the Supreme Court, video footage filmed on 20 September and 1 October 2017 was shown, as the prosecution team aimed to establish that violence was used in the 2017 independence bid, thereby justifying the rebellion charges against the jailed Catalan pro-independence leaders.

Catalan Trial: click here full details of those accused, the charges, and the accusers.

Much of the footage shown in court featured protestors and voters preventing Spanish National Police or Guardia Civil officers from carrying out the judicial order to halt the independence referendum, but with very few images of police officers using hardline tactics against the public.

The videos were not shown in any clear chronological order, and in many cases the state prosecutor was unable to say where or when the footage had been recorded, while in other cases the prosecution showed the same videos more than once.

ALSO READ: Catalan trial: controversy over ‘rebellion’ and violence

Footage from 1 October 2017 in a number of Catalan towns, mostly recorded by police officers themselves, showed referendum voters impeding or harassing the police, while others showed Catalan police officers (the Mossos d’Esquadra) talking to voters or in altercations with their Spanish counterparts.

One video from the prosecution showed Guardia Civil officers leaving a town on 1 October, with referendum voters chasing after their cars and shouting ‘Get out!’ Another video showed protestors in Sabadell chanting ‘you will not pass’ at Spanish police forces. Many other videos showed the crowds chanting ‘freedom’ and ‘we will vote’, whilst blocking the way of the police forces.

Spanish police officers facing voters in Lleida with their hands in the air on 1 October 2017 (Oriol Bosch / via ACN)

Some of the videos shown in the afternoon session had already been seen in the morning. What’s more, some of the repeated videos were identified as happening on different days, as was the case with footage of protestors blocking roads and railway lines.

With more than four hours devoted to showing footage, the prosecutor was often ‘unable’ to tell the defence lawyers where exactly the video had been recorded, saying that the intention had been to show the ‘general climate everywhere’.

Catalan Trial: click here full details of those accused, the charges, and the accusers.

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