Guardiola calls on the international community to support the Catalan referendum

<p><span>Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola, read a manifesto in favor of a referendum on Catalan independence at a rally on Sunday. &ldquo;We appeal to all democrats &ndash; in Europe and around the world &ndash; to stand by us in defending the rights that are under threat today in Catalonia, such as freedom of political expression,&rdquo; Guardiola said in front of the 30,000 people who had gathered under the motto &ldquo;Referendum is democracy&rdquo; at the emblematic Montju&iuml;c fountains in Barcelona. Civil and municipality organizations had called on the citizens to show their support for the referendum, planned for October 1 and which the central government has vowed to stop at all costs. Guardiola also reminded the crowd about Spain's actions against the self-determination process in Catalonia, such as the conspiracy to destroy the Catalan health system or the judicial prosecution of elected representatives, which he said were unworthy of a twenty-first-century European democracy. &ldquo;This scandalous political situation can only be answered with more democracy,&rdquo; the renowned former FC Barcelona coach said. Numerous speakers of the different entities also defended that &ldquo;the only possible answer is to vote&rdquo;.</span></p> / Krystyna Schreiber

Krystyna Schreiber

June 12, 2017 04:53 PM