The Netherlands' honorary consul in Barcelona was one of those who took part in a Ciudadanos-organised event on Saturday at which the independence movement was described as "Nazi". The event, organised by España Ciudadana, the Spanish nationalist platform set up by the Ciudadanos political party to expand its base, attracted around 500 people (2,500 according to the organisers) to Barcelona's Moll de la Fusta. As well as Ciudadanos figures and supporters, one of those attending was Dirk Kremer, businessman from the Netherlands, who has held the position of Dutch consul in Barcelona since 2012 and has become well-known for his unionist attitudes.
Kremer previously made a political impact in July this year, when he stormed out of a diplomatic corps function in the Palau de la Generalitat while Catalan president Quim Torra was speaking. At the function, in front of 90 members of the diplomatic community, president Torra had just given a defence of the Catalan Republic, criticizing the police repression on 1st October, and claiming the right to self-determination. Kremer left the room angrily. Since then, the honorary Dutch representative has become a figure of reference for unionism.
Kremer, who has a company in Ametlla del Vallès, near Barcelona, presides over several entrepreneurial associations, such as that of Dutch businesspeople in Spain.
"It's the Nazi project"
Saturday's España Ciudadana event was highly choreographed and had tightly-controlled entry. As well as speakers such as Cs leaders Albert Rivera and Inés Arrimadas, one of those who addressed the audience was writer Mercedes Monmany who asserted that the "extreme right and nationalpopulist movements" were trying to impose "states of ethnic purity". Monmany stated that "nationalism" is "Europe's great problem." "It's a plague, it's the most notorious thing there is ..." And she said that what the independence movement is preparing is "the Nazi project." "They are the forces of evil that have always existed." On a stage full of Spanish flags, Monmany made a strong defence of "Spanish values", all the while railing against the "dangers of nationalism".