Today, the village of Coripe in Andalusia has burnt and shot an effigy of Catalan president Carles Puigdemont. The president in exile himself wrote a tweet in English denouncing the event:
He also wrote a longer thread in Catalan on the matter in which he said he normally respects freedom of speech, but that this went too far. He characterised it as attacking not just him, but the larger independence movement, and criticised PSOE, which controls the town council in Coripe, for what he says is their role:
Translation: Today, in a village in Spain governed by PSOE, they've decided to shoot and burn an effigy which represented my person and which wore a highly visible yellow ribbon. They didn't only want to shoot and burn me: they wanted to mock the fight for the freedom of the prisoners and exiles.
This wasn't an anecdote, or the work of a minority. It was an official activity, protected by the local PSOE authorities. They even used real ammunition with the participation of the local police.
I normally tend to respect the demonstrations of irony and sarcasm which have occurred around the [Spanish] state because they form part of freedom of expression. This, unlike the others, I cannot respect, for personal dignity and for democratic decency.
It's a message of hate, with full will to generate hatred. It's an event which minors take part in, who have attended the orgy of violence unleashed against what I represent as if it were something normal. It's a shameful act, inappropriate in any civilised society.
My commitment is to independence, democracy, freedom. None of these commitments deserves being shot or burnt for, at least in a civilised society. I greatly regret that PSOE should take part in such a visceral and inhuman act of hatred.
The Spain of 155 and the "go get them" has engendered this attitude. Their promoters and backers are directly responsible for it. As they are for Spain's deteriorated image.