josep ramon bosch

Many MEPs and different entities urged the European Parliament to withdraw the European Citizen 2014 award from 'Societat Civil Catalana', a Spanish unity association which has been repeatedly linked with extreme right organisations. Recent investigations also connected SCC's president, Josep Ramon Bosch, with Francoist Fascism and Nazism and Bosch himself has been called to Court accused of threatening pro-independence Catalan figures via a fake Facebook profile. The associations, organisations and public figures signing the 'Manifesto: Catalan civil society, for dignity' accuse SCC of "appropriating themselves of the common term ['Societat Civil Catalana'] which refers to the host of civic, cultural and social entities in Catalonia characterised not only by their diversity but also by their defence of democratic principles, Catalan culture and society as a whole".

On Spain's National Day, the 12^th of October, the unionist association called Catalan Civil Society (SCC) organised a massive demonstration against Catalonia's self-determination and independence in downtown Barcelona, which was backed by the People's Party (PP) – running the Spanish Government, the anti-Catalan nationalist party Ciutadans (C's) and the Spanish nationalist party UPyD. It is the 3^rd consecutive year that a demonstration has been organised to support Spain's unity on the 12^th of October in the Catalan capital.  As happened on the two other occasions, organisers failed to fill up Catalunya Square although they gathered thousands of people carrying Spanish and Catalan flags. According to Barcelona's Police, 38,000 participated in it, while according to the Catalan Police 1.8 million people participated in the rally for the consultation vote and independence a month ago.