THE Home Office described the peaceful demonstration in Kenmure Street as a "mob". Beware this choice of words.
After the demonstration outside the Catalan Department of the Economy on September 20 2017, the Spanish Government used a similar term, "tumult", to describe the crowd. The result was that Jordi Cuixart, president of cultural organisation Omnium, and Jordi Sanchez, then president of the Catalan National Assembly, were each jailed for nine years.
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I was at the demo in Barcelona. It was – like Kenmure Street – a spontaneous, peaceful, determined demonstration by citizens shocked at the actions of a harsh government.
By describing those in Kenmure Street as a "mob", the English government seeks to portray the indy movement as dangerous, violent, out of control.
The Home Office has been taking lessons from Madrid; beware the language of an oppressive regime.
Christopher Carnie
Barcelona
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