Following is a letter sent to the Editor of the Financial Times:
Dear Sir,
Surprise, surprise! A regional independence republican party comes out questioning the monarchy and the King defends the monarchy in a recent speech ("Spain seeks to defuse protests over monarchy" Financial Times October 4, 2007). What would we expect from these sources?
Overreacting to the burning of a couple of photographs is feeding into this whole farce.
Free speech should include being able to burn photographs and cloth made into flags. Let us lighten up some!
Onésimo Alvarez-Moro
See article:
The Spanish government and senior opposition figures on Wednesday sought to play down recent protests in Catalonia against King Juan Carlos, even as young Catalan nationalists vowed to continue campaigning for the abolition of the Bourbon monarchy and the independence of their region.
With less than six months to go before a general election in which regional issues are set to be a campaign theme, the Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, prime minister, wants to prevent disaffected nationalists in Catalonia and the Basque country from using the monarchy as a proxy for attacking the national unity of Spain.
But that is exactly what a small pro-independence party known as Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) says it aims to do. “We are burning photos of the king to open a debate on the Spanish political system that was handed down by the fascist dictatorship,” said an ERC spokesman. The party plans more protests this week.
After a series of incidents in which Catalan protesters have burned photos of King Juan Carlos and hurled abuse at Crown Prince Felipe, the king took the unprecedented step earlier this week of defending himself in a speech.
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