Screaming at Sílvia Orriols at the Patum of Berga

Barcelona"We have been working for many, many years for the Patum to be a success, and above all an example of harmony, of sharing, of friendship and of joy, and the City Council's plea is that this continues to be so." In this way, the mayor of Berga, Ivan Sànchez, called on Wednesday to maintain the complicity of recent years at the start of the festival. This festive atmosphere has soured this Thursday, just one day later, due to the presence of Sílvia Orriols on the balcony of the City Council. The president of Aliança Catalana was met with an unprecedented booing at the first jump of the full Patum, in which the 'guita' carried the anti-fascist flag. Hundreds of people, some with whistles, have heckled the also mayoress of Ripoll with shouts such as "Out with fascists from the Patum!" or "Jump, jump, jump, fascist whoever doesn't vote!".

The leader of Aliança arrived in the Berguedà capital in the evening without even voting her amendment in its entirety to the budget accompanying law in Parliament – she voted that of the draft bill of accounts in the morning, but was absent from the plenary session in the afternoon – on the same day she boasted of working more than some deputies. In Berga, Judit Vinyes was waiting for her, the independent councilor who has joined her party and who will be the candidate in the municipal elections, who had invited her to the balcony of the Town Hall. Before she entered the reserved seat for authorities, part of the public had already insulted her and chanted anti-fascist slogans, but it was when she sat down that the outcry became generalized to show the discontent over her presence. It was no use that some party militants from Berga and others from outside were in the square. In fact, even part of the square demanded that the festival not begin until she left, but the mayor gave the order for it to start. When the Patum was stopped due to rain at a quarter past ten and the authorities returned to their seats a few minutes later, the whistling and shouting at Orriols was repeated.

Orriols had already heated up the atmosphere when she announced her presence at the council. In a post on X, accompanied by a photograph of a jump of the fully dressed figures, the Islamophobic leader announced that she would be present at the festival with the aim of "transmitting to the people of Berga that, after years of dirt, darkness and degradation, there is hope". And she exemplified this hope in Vinyes. It was, therefore, a jab against the CUP, which has chained three consecutive terms in the mayor's office.

she and many of the driving forces behind the nucleus in Berga would leaveThe one who was postulating to be Aliança's candidate in Berga, Anna de Haro, who is no longer part of the party after the push for Vinyes that led to her and many of the promoters of the nucleus in Berga leaving, urged Orriols to stop provoking. "La Patum is starting and some of you are more concerned with generating headlines, controversies, and tension than with respecting a festival that belongs to everyone. Between provocative announcements, calculated messages, and a permanent narrative of confrontation, the feeling is that some of you need things to happen to continue feeding your discourse," she denounced.

And she attributed it to electoralism: "If you truly love Berga and La Patum, stop turning it into a campaign and conflict scenario. People want to enjoy the festival, not be part of any provocation strategy or victimhood operation. It is shameful to see how any situation is attempted to be instrumentalized for political gain".

Other whistles to politicians

He is not the first politician to have been booed. The last to be shouted at was the current president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa. Two years ago, on May 30, 2024, shortly after the elections he had won, the PSC leader, who was not yet the head of the executive, was one of the authorities invited to the Patum de lluïment. And when he entered the balcony, part of the audience received him with a great shouting, whistles, and cries of "independence". Artur Mas was also shouted at when he was president of the Generalitat. It was in 2012. Upon his arrival at Plaça de Sant Pere, some of the attendees who filled it booed him in a context of large cuts by the Generalitat after the 2008 crisis and strong social protests. Be that as it may, some attendees also applauded him and there was a division of opinions.