Police fail to ban silent protest outside church

For three months, people have gathered daily outside the Sant Pau de Tarragona church, in a silent manifestation demanding freedom for Catalan political prisoners. The location is not random, and was chosen as its directly across from the Provincial Court of Tarragona, a complex of buildings which includes the Office of the Prosecutor. Since their protest is totally silent, the protestors have never received a complaint – until yesterday. The Spanish police chose this church, which is only a few metres down the road from their barracks, for an annual ceremony honouring their patron saint. The request from national police that the daily protest be called off yesterday created tension, and unsurprisingly, had a reverse effect. Over 200 protestors were present yesterday at the front entrance of the church. Carme Rossell, one of the “regulars” at the silent protest, made their unwillingness to stop clear, and justified the act with a claim that “we’ve done it 86 days in a row”. It took a large Catalan Police presence to ensure that protestors did not gain access to the inside of the church. However one of them did manage to enter, Lluís Pastrana, who then held up a sign demanding freedom for political prisoners, but was “dragged” to an annex off the church nave by police inside.