Barcelona asks to expel a team from a soccer league for making an apology for Francoism

BarcelonaThe Barcelona City Council demanded this Friday that the manager of the Horta Velodrome prevent the participation in one of the 7-a-side football leagues held there of a team that promotes Francoism. The city's Sports Councilor, David Escudé, has sent a letter requesting the expulsion of the team Mingorrubio Balompié —alluding to the cemetery where the dictator is buried—, which, as reported by SER, has among its members two Vox officials in Barcelona and displayed Francoist symbology on its crest.

The Vox members who are part of the team are the provincial vice president in Barcelona, Juan Cremades, and the district councilor for Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Carles Oliva. Both wore a shield in which, beyond the team's name, one could read the name Bayern de los Caídos and included a 'victor' (Franco's personal anagram). The City Council's response comes after another team requested that the league organizers have the team remove the Francoist symbology and a group of lawyers brought the case to the Prosecutor's Office.

"Barcelona cannot allow its sports facilities to be used to provide coverage or normalize expressions that promote or exhibit symbology linked to a dictatorship," defends the letter sent by Escudé to the Velodrome manager. In the letter, the councilor also argues that sport "cannot become a space for the exhibition or normalization of symbols associated with a dictatorship."