The Tsunami Democràtic protest group has reiterated its call for a ‘massive’ protest in the vicinity of FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium on Wednesday 18 December, as previously reported – the day of El Clásico football match between Barça and Real Madrid.
In a statement, the group has complained of the ‘impossibility’ of coming to an agreement with the clubs to make their message ‘visible from the stands and the field’.
The game between Barça and Real Madrid has already been rescheduled from 26 October for security reasons surrounding previous protests in Barcelona, following the Supreme Court sentencing on 14 October of nine Catalan leaders to up to 13 years in prison.
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The Tsunami Democràtic group, already responsible for having previously blocked Barcelona El Prat airport and the AP-7 motorway at the French border, want to use the match as a platform to launch an ‘appeal for dialogue’, that they say ‘Spain ignores’.
The organised protest is planned to have four meeting points surrounding the ground, with people from across Catalonia expected to gather at 4pm, with the game kicking off at 8 pm.
According to Tsunami, more than 18,000 people have confirmed their attendance for the protest, and many of them have tickets to the game and ‘have already received the relevant slogans and have been organised to carry out the planned actions.’
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The protestors will be divided into four different spots in the streets surrounding the Camp Nou stadium depending on which part of the country they are coming from.
The Ciudadanos (Cs) politician in Catalonia, Carlos Carrizosa, responded to the news of the scheduled protest by stating that the Catalan government must safeguard the rights of those who wish to attend the match as well as of those who live in the area.
El Clásico (played at least twice a year) is one of the most viewed sporting events in the world. Whilst the total potential broadcast figure is up to around 650 million people across 185 countries – actual viewing figures of each match itself are estimated at around 100m.
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