Original en català · Versión en castellano

Unitat Contra el Feixisme i el Racisme (Unity against fascism and racism in Catalonia, UCFR) strongly condemns the Nazi aggression committed yesterday during the celebration of the Catalan national day at the Catalan Government offices in Madrid. We send our support to the victims of the attack, and our wishes for their speedy recovery.

From the television images it is clear that the attackers were carrying symbols of known fascist groups. These are the same groups that have organised three Nazi demonstrations in Madrid over the last two years; the same groups that have announced their intention to demonstrate in Barcelona next 12 October (12-O, a symbolic day for Spanish fascists). We also note that one of the attackers’ slogans, “Catalanness is Spanishness”, comes from the Nazi centre in Clot, Barcelona — set up by a “Plataforma per Catalunya” councillor — whose closure we have been demanding for over a year and a half. Furthermore, according to press reports, one of the aggressors gave a talk last July at the Europa bookshop in Gràcia, Barcelona, run by the convicted neo-Nazi Pedro Varela.

UCFR recalls that we have long been warning of the dangers of allowing fascism to grow, and insisting on the need to stop the far right through united action. We encourage the social movements and progressive forces of Madrid to establish the unitary movement needed to stop fascism in their city.

We call on the Madrid authorities urgently to identify, prosecute and punish those responsible for yesterday’s attack. We also demand that the respective authorities do not allow the groups responsible for this attack to bring their violence to the streets of Barcelona.

We call on all the people who want to demonstrate their rejection of Nazi aggression to be prepared for possible protests. Furthermore, UCFR is in contact with other social movements in Catalonia, with a view to organising an act against fascism and racism on 12-O.

Unitat contra el feixisme i el racisme
Barcelona, 12 September, 2013