72 rallies and 140 witnesses to make the Via Laietana police station a place of remembrance

BarcelonaThe memorial and human rights organizations that have been fighting for years for the current police station to be Via Layetana The organizations, outraged by the proposal made last month by the Minister of Justice, Ramon Espadaler, have called for a site of remembrance of resistance and repression, to refuse to give up. For almost four years, two Tuesdays a month, they have held 72 rallies in which 140 people have been able to explain, some for the first time, their time at the police station during the dictatorship, but also during the democracy. The organizations, outraged by the proposal made last month by the Minister of Justice, Ramon Espadaler, have called on all the city councils in Catalonia: "They should all get involved because there were detainees there from all over the country," says Pep Cruanyes, president of the Dignity Commission. For the moment, the city councils of Girona, Sant Cugat del Vallès, and Figueres, among others, have joined.

Cruanyes does not have much faith that the Generalitat (Generalitat) or the Spanish government will heed their requests. The police station was the headquarters of the Political and Social Brigade, a police branch charged with investigating and prosecuting opponents of the Franco regime, which had carte blanche to do whatever it detained. Swordsman He explained that "the issue of Via Laietana" could only be resolved with an agreement between the Spanish government, the Catalan government, and Barcelona City Council. "There's no doubt that it must be recognized as a memorial site, but that's not necessarily incompatible with its current use," said the Minister of Justice. The organizations, however, consider the police presence incompatible with the use of the space as a memorial site.