Is it possible to criminalise a colour? That seems to be a good question for the Spanish police, who over the last year have become accustomed to taking action against the yellow ribbons, yellow t-shirts and other items worn to show solidarity with Catalan political prisoners. Well, this Sunday in Madrid they've been confiscating yellow items from Argentinian football fans at the entrance to the Copa Libertadores final, between Buenos Aires teams River Plate and Boca Juniors.
Boca fans, who have yellow and blue as their club colours, could only watch in surprise as Spanish security forces stopped them from entering the Santiago Bernabéu stadium with any yellow items. The images show how the Argentinian fans, having travelled thousands of kilometres to see their team play in a football final, had to toss their yellow items into the rubbish bins, as police weren't letting them into the stadium.
David Casany
The police, deployed in numbers seldom seen in the Spanish capital, apparently didn't want to leave anything to chance, and thus continued the clampdown on the colour that over the last year has become the symbol of solidarity with the Catalan pro-independence prisoners and exiles.
En el Bernabeu se esta requisando trapos amarillos por la independencia de Cataluña a los aficionados de @BocaJrsOficial y @CARPoficial pic.twitter.com/TKKJXNHxMm
— Foro MDM (@foromdm) 9 de desembre de 2018
The Argentinian fans of Boca Juniors, taken aback by the situation, did what they were told by the Spanish police. After the return match of the two-leg Argentinian cup final was shifted from South America to Europe due to problems of violence between the Buenos Aires clubs, those who made the intercontinental journey perhaps didn't want any further trouble with the authorities.