Torra: 'We shouldn't be afraid of being free'

The Catalan president, Quim Torra, said on Monday that Catalans "shouldn't be afraid of being free."

In a short speech from Sant Julià de Ramis, the town in Girona where Guardia Civil officers raided Carles Puigdemont's polling station, Torra said that last year's referendum was an "historic day."

"We demand the immediate release of the political prisoners, the return of those in exile and the end of the general trial against independence supporters," said the Catalan president in his institutional speech.

"The government confirms its commitment to the democratic mandate of October 1 and its absolute support of people suffering repression," he added. According to Torra, "democracy and freedom will always be" values of Catalonia.

Torra and his government held their weekly cabinet meeting in Sant Julià de Ramis, where dozens of Guardia Civil officers raided a polling station last year. The images from that day were seen live all around the word, as Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was expected to vote there.

"We knew October 1 was the beginning of something important, the beginning of the Catalan Republic," he added.

Torra paraphrased world-renowned Catalan musician Pau Casals, saying citizens "shouldn't be afraid of being free."

The Catalan president said that the trial against pro-independence leaders is "a trial against the whole Catalan people." "Voting is not a crime, we can't accept that" he insisted. "Hitting voters is a crime," he added. 

"I entered in my polling station with my neighbors and I left it with fraternal friends. This is the lesson of values that are republican, fraternal and show solidarity that we need to uphold to face the coming weeks and months," Torra insisted.

On a day when activists have blocked roads and train lines to demand independence, Torra added they were right to put pressure on politicians. "You put pressure on us, and you must," the president said, speaking in front of a banner that read "the people decides, the government obeys".

Parliament speaker Roger Torrent said that Catalans "will never give up" the legacy of the October 1 referendum. "It shows us the way forward, the path to follow: the path of ballot boxes and democracy," he said.

Torrent urges citizens to be "firm" and "determined" and insisted that October 1 was the basis "of democracy" in Catalonia.

Puigdemont urges "unity"

Meanwhile, former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said in an interview with RAC1 radio that he never considered calling off the referendum.

He urged pro-independence forces to show "unity" and a "commitment" to peaceful and civic actions to face the upcoming weeks, and rejected the use of violence.

Puigdemont also insisted that the current Catalan government should give some time to the Spanish president Pedro Sánchez to "offer a political proposal to solve the conflict."