Anti-king banner unveiled in Barcelona ahead of attacks ceremony

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Catalan separatists unveiled a giant banner against Spain's King Felipe VI on a building in the Barcelona square where he is due to attend a ceremony on Friday in honor of the victims of last year's deadly jihadist attacks in the city.

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Barcelona attacks anniversary

"The Spanish King is not welcome in the Catalan countries," the banner read in English. It was accompanied by an upside-down portrait of the monarch.

Spain's King Felipe VI attends the Armed Forces Day in Logrono, Spain, May 26, 2018. /VCG Photo

The King and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez are due to join families of the victims for the commemoration at the Plaza Catalunya, near Barcelona's main avenue Las Ramblas where a jihadist plowed through crowds in a white van.

Catalonia's main separatist civil society group, the Catalan National Assembly, on Twitter expressed "all its support to the activists who deployed this banner and spent the entire night defending freedom of expression."

Relatives place flowers during the ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the attacks at Las Ramblas, central Barcelona, Spain, August 17, 2018. /VCG Photo

Family members of the victims of the attacks in Barcelona and the nearby seaside resort of Cambrils had asked for a "truce" in the political conflict over Catalonia's separatist drive on the one-year anniversary of the attacks.

The king had been jeered by Catalan separatists, who reject the monarchy and hope to set up an independent republic when he joined a massive protest against terrorism in Barcelona shortly after the attacks.

Catalan separatist organizations will stage their own commemorations of the attacks on Friday so as to avoid appearing alongside the king, who adopted a hardline stance against Catalonia's separatist push last year.

(Cover: A banner against Spain's King Felipe VI is displayed in Barcelona, August 17, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP