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Barcelona’s ‘Plaça Sant Jaume’, the square between City Hall and government headquarters, hosted on Saturday a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of the Paris attacks. Citizens, institutions and all the political parties showed their support for the French people in their darkest hour and committed themselves to fighting terrorism with them. “This is not a war between religions, this is a battle between Good and Evil” stated current president Artur Mas, “the bloodshed in Paris is also ours”. Mas admitted that Catalonia could also be the target of similar acts but assured that “everything which can be done in order to prevent attacks is being carried out”. Besides President Mas, Parliament’s president, Carme Forcadell, Barcelona’s Mayor, Ada Colau, and the French consul in Barcelona, Edouard Beslay, were also present at the event. The main road connecting Catalonia and France, the AP-7, has been open throughout the day but the police have restricted traffic to a single lane closer to the French border.  

On Friday, the Spanish Police Force arrested 8 people in an operation against Jihadist terrorism. Six of the arrests were carried out in Catalonia (in Figueres, Malgrat de Mar, Manlleu, Piera, l'Hospitalet de Llobregat and Terrassa), while the remaining 2 were made in the provinces of Ávila and Ciudad Real. The detainees were allegedly spreading Islamic State propaganda, which was being co-ordinated from Syria and Iraq by the terrorist organisation. In addition, they may have also been in charge of recruiting people to fight in Syria and Iraq and to commit terrorist attacks in Spain. All 8 have Spanish nationality and 5 are of Moroccan origin. The 6 people arrested in Catalonia have been moved from Barcelona to the Madrid-based 'Audiencia Nacional' Court with 3 vans and 7 cars in order to testify and to be put under judicial custody.

The Spanish Minister of Home Affairs, Jorge Fernández Diaz, on Thursday restated his belief that Catalonia would become more “vulnerable” to terrorist attacks, drug trafficking and organised crime if it were to separate from Spain. He argued that "without the protective umbrella” of Spain’s security forces and collaboration with international intelligence agencies, these threats to Catalan security would increase. "United we are stronger than divided," he reiterated. Some have regarded this warning as over-dramatic, with the Catalan Minister of Home Affairs, Ramon Espadaler, describing it as “apocalyptic.”