Bid to inform tourists

Òmnium Cultural has launched a campaign in English, French, Spanish and Catalan to explain to tourists visiting Catalonia this summer the situation regarding the imprisonment and exile of Catalan pro-independence leaders and the quashing of freedom of expression via the so-called Gagging Law (Llei Mordassa).

The organisation is aiming to present and explain the “Catalonia that does not appear on the postcards” and that “has not yet been included in some tourist guides”. The campaign will take the form of posters, postcards and T-shirts, but will also count on three buses travelling up and down the Catalan coast.

Coinciding with the height of the summer holidays and considering that around three million tourists visit Catalonia at this time of year, the three buses will travel from the Costa Brava to the Costa Daurada for two weeks adorned with the slogan “Freedem for All Catalan Political Prisoners & Exiles”. Two of the buses will only travel along the Catalan coast, including Barcelona, with this slogan in the four languages, while a third will contain a travelling exhibition.

The exhibition will use informative panels and show videos to explain the October 1 referendum and the response of the Spanish State to employ police and the legal system to send two civil leaders and seven members of the government to jail, as well as leading seven other members and leaders to go into exile in European countries.

The exhibition will also highlight to tourists the regression in rights and freedoms in the Spanish State resulting from application of the Security Act, known as the Gagging Law.