The Observatorio Cívico de la Violencia Política en Cataluña (Civic Observatory for Political Violence in Catalonia), set up by the associations Impulso Ciudadano (Civic Impulse) and Movimiento contra la Intolerancia, (Movement against Intolerance), has issued its 3rd report compiling incidents linked with political violence and ideological hatred which have been perpetrated in Catalonia throughout 2020.
During that period, a pattern of political violence has consolidated, with recurring outbreaks around one-off events acting as triggers for the pro-independentists’ strategy aimed at destabilising the social and institutional framework. It can be said that this pattern of sustained violence, with peaks of social chaos, is what the procès (push for Catalan independence) has transformed itself into after the failure of the institutional takeover in 2017.
The following key data can be highlighted from the following report
OCVPC_Report-2020_Summary_FINAL
Conclusions
- Political violence and pandemic. Political violence in Catalonia throughout 2020 was conditioned, as all aspects of everyday life, by the COVID-19 pandemic. It did not disappear as a result of lockdown and measures restricting free movement and social activities. Instead, it adapted itself to the new health emergency context by taking the form of street violence acts concentrated in spells of extreme tension related to specific political events. In addition, there was a significant increase of violence in social networks, with expressions of hate speech and hispanophobia, both by individuals and prominent public figures.
Sustained violence. In 2020 political violence in Catalonia was sustained throughout the year:
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