The intolerable episode of police brutality that occurred in Elche, when some police officers beat up a Barça supporter who was carrying an Estelada, has made it possible to confirm – without surprise, it must be said – that some fellow citizens get indignant with more or less intensity depending on the autonomous community from which the victim of police violence comes. Or depending on the flag they raise.It was just a month ago that more than twenty people were injured as a result of police brutality – entirely unjustified and disproportionate – against the massive demonstration in Palma protesting against tourism, speculation and overcrowding. And a few months ago, during the also massive, and admirable, mobilizations of Valencian teachers in defense of public schools and education in Valencian, a teacher was brutally assaulted by a police officer who made her fall face down on the ground with a push from behind. Some of those who are now exclaiming and indignant – with every right, moreover – about the police assault on a young Barça fan who was carrying an estelada did not find any reason to say anything about the cases of police brutality in Mallorca or the Valencian Country. On the contrary, some consider that we Mallorcans and Valencians deserve it, with the astounding argument that the PP (or the PP plus Vox) win the elections in these communities. As if to say: For them, among the victims of police violence there are classes. A Valencian teacher (retired, moreover) who defended public school and in Catalan: bah. Mallorcan demonstrators, activists and journalists protesting against housing speculation, environmental destruction and overpopulation: pse. Young Barça fan with an Estelada: attack against freedoms, historical grievance and national hero. Some of those who make these distinctions then usually also make great patriotic proclamations and give lessons –never asked for– about the country.The police officers who beat people are not that picky, and they themselves are clear about whom they beat and why. In all cases, police forces – and, around them, political and media powers (and judicial ones, when convenient) – hide behind a fierce corporate defense of violent police officers. They also resort to the tactic of perverting roles and presenting the victim as the aggressor and the aggressor police officer as the victim. There is no shortage of police unions, which stoke tension in accordance with a very specific and recognizable political ideology, that of the Spanish nationalist far-right. Faced with all this, however, some find that full consideration as victims should be reserved for some and not granted to others. It is strange behavior, which occurs in the distance between being a victim and exercising victimhood.

"We want to call you all to a permanent mobilization", said the then president of Òmnium, Jordi Cuixart, perched on the roof of a Civil Guard car on September 20, 2017. His words were incorporated into the police report that served as the basis for his imprisonment and that of Jordi Sànchez (ANC) a few weeks later. According to the police, the two of them controlled the thousands of people who were gathered in front of the Ministry of Economy to protest against the first arrests of the Procés and "never" used this control to call off the demonstration. The police report omitted that, moments later, perched on the same car and with the same megaphone in hand, Cuixart asked to end the demonstration: "We ask you, as far as possible, in a calm manner, to disperse this call in a few moments". The images, recorded by protesters, were shown during the trial at the Supreme Court.

The estelada is a legal flag that is not part of the set of symbols banned in sports competitions such as football, but it is being seized in numerous matches of football, basketball, and other disciplines, especially outside Catalonia. What happened this Sunday in Elx, topped with a brutal assault on a minor who was carrying an estelada, has once again raised a question: who is ordering the confiscation of this flag left and right? Even more so considering that the ultimate responsibility of the state police force lies with the Ministry of the Interior, commanded by the socialist Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

Until this Tuesday, and because the press asked him about it, the Government had not commented on the police aggression against a Catalan minor who was carrying an estelada last Sunday evening, prior to the match between Elche and Barça. "From the Government we condemn the use of this violence, in light of the images we have all seen, of the aggression against this young man," stated the executive's spokesperson, Sílvia Paneque, at the press conference following the executive council meeting. Thus, Salvador Illa's government has regretted this police action and has emphasized the need for it to be investigated. In parallel, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, defended this Tuesday that the internal ex officio investigation into the National Police is what "is appropriate" and that the corps "is the first interested party in analyzing and excluding any action that implies a minimum deviation from proportionality" in the use of force.

The police charges and the forceful removals of Esteladas that were witnessed during the lead-up to this Sunday's match between Barça and Elche have been personified in a video on X in which a young Barça fan is seen falling to the ground from baton blows just after the National Police removed his Estelada. Consequently, the wave of political and social reactions has not been long in coming: it has received the unanimous condemnation of the independence movement, from Junts to ERC, the CUP, Òmnium Cultural, Aliança Catalana, and various entities and Barça fan clubs, who are demanding that the Ministry of the Interior explain the agents' actions and hold them accountable.

Some 600 members of various choirs who were due to participate this Wednesday in the mass and the act of blessing the cross of the tower of Jesus of the Sagrada FamiliaWhile they were singing the Virolai, however, they observed "a lot of secret police" climbing up to where they were. "I thought it was just the general protocol for the Pope and that was it," admits one of the affected singers. Before they had even finished singing the hymn to the Virgin of Montserrat, the officers began to make them come down from the choir lofts and led them outside.

Today we will have new revelations about the judicial investigation into the lobbying activity of former Spanish president Zapatero, because the judge will deliver to the parties everything that is in the initiated summary. And, of course, with new revelations the pressure on Sánchez's government to step down will increase. On this front there is a significant novelty: the PNB, through its president, Aitor Esteban, said yesterday that it would be “irresponsible” for Sanchez to want to exhaust the legislature in 2027, that is to say, that in view of everything that has emerged (the Zapatero case, but also the Cerdán and Ábalos cases) it would be imprudent to want to go beyond this year.What Esteban is telling Sánchez is that he should not abuse his patience and the deadlock in which the parties that voted for the socialist president's investiture find themselves: it is unlikely that the PNB, Junts, and not to mention the so-called "plurinational lefts" will vote for Feijóo as president of the government with Vox in a motion of censure, but if corruption continues to tarnish Sánchez, it is the Spanish president who should be obliged to call early elections. After all, Sánchez came to power with a motion of censure after corruption drowned Rajoy and the PP government.As always happens in these cases, now there are voices demanding that the law better define the limits between lobbying and falling into the crime of influence peddling. And the convenience of rescuing the airline Plus Ultra during the pandemic is also reviewed in hindsight, because it was not essential for air traffic between Spain and Latin America. If it wasn't, why did they rescue it? The PSOE is crossing its fingers so that the judge hasn't found anything else and can recover the discourse of "lawfare" (a possibility that, given what we have seen in the Spanish justice system, would not be so dismissible), but everyone you talk to tells you that, at the very least, Zapatero acted very much on the edge.While the socialists are crossing their fingers that nothing else comes up, in our country, tomorrow there will be another meeting between the Government and the education unions. The teachers' strikes are more than a stone in the government's shoe, they are a boulder in the road that doesn't let it continue to move with confidence and optimism after having been able to present a budget that will be approved. We are at the end of the sports seasons, and Catalonia has lost a team in the First Football Division, Girona. After having reached the Champions League, it drops to the Second Division: the team could not withstand the departure of key players who had made a name for themselves. Not all news is bad. Two Catalans succeeding in the world: the Barça women's football team, which tonight was received in Barcelona by 10,000 people after having won the Champions League, the fourth in the Club's history, in a perfect season that includes all three Spanish titles. And wait, because Alexia Putellas, after Saturday's Champions League, could very well win the Ballon d'Or again. For the visibility of professional women's sport, the service Barça is providing is extraordinary. And Pep Guardiola, who yesterday was bid farewell at City's stadium after 10 years as its manager. The mark Guardiola has left on football can only be defined by "a before and an after"; this can be said of very few managers in history. By the way, both celebrations, that of the Barça players and that of the Santpedor coach, were united by the estelada:

The lack of international support was one of the reasons the Process failed. Only one world leader defended the October 1st referendum: Nicolás Maduro. The Venezuelan president, ousted by the US, defended the referendum. "Catalonia had the right to express itself democratically," he said on October 1st in his program. Sundays with MaduroInterspersing images of police repression, which he described as "terrible," he had already been photographed with the Catalan independence flag (estelada) at the documentary's presentation in April.Maduro, unwavering loyalty, Directed by Lluís Bartra, a member of the Ítaca collective, a left-wing pro-independence group, the photograph infuriated the PDECat party. "If anyone thinks they're making a difference by having Maduro pose with the Catalan independence flag, they haven't understood anything," warned coordinator Marta Pascal. Eight years later, the figure of Maduro, who repressed the Venezuelan opposition while in power, continues to divide the pro-independence movement. In this sense, Trump's attack on Venezuela has highlighted the division within the pro-independence movement regarding international relations.

Like so many other Barça fans, Ricard will wear the Estelada (flag) to this Saturday's Copa del Rey final in Seville against Real Madrid. "I'm going to keep it well hidden," he told ARA, aware of the precedents in this type of match. Seizing pro-independence flags is not uncommon in football stadiums, and even in the final of this competition that Barça played against Sevilla at Madrid's Metropolitano Stadium in 2018. At the height of the process, private security even took pieces of yellow flags from Barça fans. What will the Barça fans find at La Cartuja?