Via Layetana 43: memory cannot be just a gesture

Catalan society has long struggled, through memorial and human rights organizations, for a public policy on memory that reflects the suffering experienced, the truth that is still denied, and the democratic future we seek to build. This struggle has been constant, cross-cutting, and persistent. And, among all the demands, one stands out with symbolic force: the redefinition of the building at 43 Via Laietana.

This building, home to the Police Headquarters, was a center of systematic repression during the Franco regime—and much of the Transition to the Revolution. Thousands of detainees were held there, suffering torture, humiliation, and harassment. It was the site of the Political-Social Brigade, one of the regime's most ferocious instruments against dissent. And yet, for decades, there was silence.

From the Ateneo Memoria Popular, an organization that brings together up to twenty entities, we presented, more than two and a half years ago, a formal request to the Spanish government to initiate the process of recognizing Via Laietana 43 as a place of memory, without having received any response to date, not even to subsequent written requests.

Silence.

For this reason, however, we value very positively that finally, this past July 18, the State government has initiated the file for declare the headquarters building as a Memorial SpaceThis is an important step, coming after years of citizen pressure and institutional recognition of the seriousness of what has happened.

However, we cannot stop here. Formal recognition, without real transformation, neither guarantees reparation nor helps us work to prevent a possible recurrence in the future. We need to go further. We must define how we can make Via Laietana 43 a living, public, open, and educational memorial center that explains the repression, dignifies the victims, and serves to envision a more just future.

And to achieve this, we understand that an essential step is necessary: the National Police cannot continue to occupy the building. No democracy can build a narrative of freedom and rights while maintaining a police station, in this case the headquarters of this police force, in a recognized space of Francoist repression and rights violations. This is not a symbolic issue; it is a matter of institutional coherence and respect for the victims.

We will not achieve this transformation solely through necessary institutional decrees, which, we must remember, comply with memory laws that have yet to be implemented. We need to continue the broad, citizen-led, collective struggle. Therefore, from the Ateneo de Memoria Popular (Popular Memory Center), we call on all civil society, organizations, unions, and social and democratic movements to join the major mobilization led by the "Plataforma Via Laietana, 43. Let's Do Justice. Let's Do Memory," planned for November. This mobilization is to defend the right to memory and to clearly demand the complete transformation of Via Laietana 43 into a public center of democratic memory.

Because memory cannot be just a gesture. It must be a tool for radically democratic transformation.