The town hall building in the central Catalan city of Vic was attacked overnight. The symbols on its façade - the pro-independence estelada flag which usually flies there, and a banner calling for freedom for Catalan political prisoners - were vandalised by the attackers in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The city's mayor Anna Erra responded by directing a tweet at the Spanish government's Catalonia representative Enric Millo: "Is this the neutrality you are defending?" Earlier this week, Millo had urged Catalan town councils to "maintain the neutrality" of their public spaces, in response to a number of confrontational incidents in which Spanish unionists had disrupted protests against the detention of Catalan political and civic leaders, including one case in which several people who had set up a "yellow cross" protest were injured by the unionists.
"Here we are in the 21st century and we will not tire of demanding 'Freedom of expression' and that we want our people back home," said Erra in her tweet. "Be very clear about the fact that we are peaceful people and the streets will always be ours. We will be faithful to the mandate won in the 1st October referendum in spite of the persecution", wrote the mayor in her message.