The far right turns Salt into a place of pilgrimage

BarcelonaThe Salt riots The eviction of an imam sparked a surge in security concerns, which the right exploited and the far right used as a springboard against "Islamism." This has been seen in the Parliament since last week, in a context where this issue has been mixed with the migration pact for the distribution of migrant minors and the immigration transfer agreementVox and the Catalan Alliance have been the most forceful, mixing immigration, security, and Islam, but the PP has also raised its tone. Meanwhile, Junts has been announcing migration agreements but has avoided verbal escalation. How is Salt affecting Catalan politics?

Following the clashes, the PP and Vox have demanded the appearance of the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, and the far-right party has also requested the appearance of the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa. And this Saturday, the final stop is an Islamophobic demonstration in Terrassa with the slogan "No to Islamization." Likewise, the leader of the Catalan Alliance, Sílvia Orriols, denounced the role of "Muslim fanatics" in Salt, saying that "the situation is extremely serious" and "will foreseeably worsen", and linked Islam to the "cultural and demographic substitution" that, in her opinion, entails "insecurity". The Catalan Alliance has targeted the "human rights courses" for imams proposed by the deputy and ideologue of the Catalan regional government, Agustí Colomines: Junts criticise Orriols' "hatred". starting with Puigdemont.

Vox also has no qualms about describing the protesters in Salt as "barbaric," and the far-right party's secretary general, Ignacio Garriga, even asked Isla in the plenary session to expel them from the streets of Catalonia, forgetting that Vox is completely opposed to ceding this power. Garriga also went to Salt on a pilgrimage after the incidents, denouncing the "Islamization" of the municipality and placing Muslims as allies of Pedro Sánchez. Vox even brought the Girona city in the Congress of Deputies led by its leader, Santiago Abascal. Why is Salt a priority? Vox's spokesperson in the Parliament, Joan Garriga, assures ARA that "it shows that there are inaccessible neighborhoods where Islamism is very present and Islamic law prevails over national law."

Dialectical escalation

The People's Party (PP) long ago opted to join the escalating discourse against immigration rather than shy away from a debate in which Vox is leading the way. This week, the PP spokesperson in the Parliament, Juan Fernández, described Salt as a "powder keg" and warned that the unrest could spread to other parts of Catalonia. "We cannot implement a policy of papers for everyone" and ""immigration disorder" that has "consequences" of "collapse of public services, breakdown of coexistence and security problems," point out the PP. Continuing with the star theme of recent days, the Catalan Popular Party leader, Alejandro Fernández, also pledged to ban the burqa and hijab in schools.

"If we're toughening our rhetoric, it's because things are worse," says PP deputy Alberto Villagrasa, the party's security officer. "Salt's problem isn't a specific one: there's disorder in Salt, Terrassa, and Sant Adrià del Besòs," he emphasizes. "It's not an immigration issue; it's an issue of uncontrolled and illegal immigration," he says, also pointing to repeated offenses.

Political Reaction

While the PP, Vox, and Aliança often compete to see who can speak the loudest, Junts has opted for a more cautious stance. The Junts members share a coalition government in Salt with ERC, but in a statement, they deplored the "vandalism" and illegal occupation, and asked the city council "not to accept the blackmail" of giving an apartment to the imam. The party is working on "a decalogue of rights and obligations linked to registering in a municipality." However, some Junts mayors erupted. against the CUP's statements demanding that stones be thrown at the Mossos d'Esquadra in Salt, such as the mayor of Figuereza, Jordi Masquef; while the mayor of Calella, Marc Buch, demanded that Catalonia, when it assumes responsibility for immigration, demonstrate that it "knows how to welcome those who come to contribute" and "who knows how to expel those who come to commit crimes".

From the ERC party, the mayor of Salt, Jordi Viñas, also a member of parliament, called for calm, deplored the "vandalism," and denied false reports such as the transfer of an apartment to an imam. He emphasized the municipality's housing policies. In contrast, the CUP (Coup d'Ecuadorian Unity) denounced Junts' "insistence" on immigration, following the migration pact, and the Comuns (United Nations) even pointed out a "racist" undertone. The PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) simply applauded all the migration pacts signed with the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party).