16 MEPs protest during PM Sánchez plenary address by showing banners of jailed and exiled Catalan political leaders

A group of MEPs from the EU-Catalonia Dialogue Platform protested on Wednesday during the address of Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, in the European Parliament plenary.

Martina Anderson (GUE / NGL), Izaskun Bilbao (ALDE), José Bové (Greens- EFA), Matt Carthy (GUE / NGL), Marc Demesmaeker (ECR), Tilly Metz (Greens- EFA), Antonio Marinho Pinto (ALDE), María Lidia Senra (GUE / NGL), Jordi Solé (Greens-EFA), Barbara Spinelli (GUE/NGL), Bart Staes (Grees- EFA), Josep-Maria Terricabras (Greens- EFA), Ramon Tremosa (ALDE), Ivo Vajgl (ALDE), Bodil Valero (Greens- EFA), and Marie -Pierre Vieu (GUE / NGL) were holding banners showing the faces of 9 Catalan political leaders jailed in Spain and the 7 exiled in other European countries to condemn the prosecution of Catalan pro-independence leaders.

“The Spanish government must release all Catalan political prisoners. It is a political issue and it requires a political debate. And you cannot negotiate with people who have been in prison for over a year”, said Green MEP José Bové to PM Sánchez in Strasbourg.