“Three centuries later, Catalans and Gibraltarians have to suffer Spanish imperial pretensions. They continue saying that our land is theirs and we have no right to decide what we want to be.”
Article by Panorama News. August 13, 2013. Full article here.
300 years have gone by since the signature of the Treaty of Utrecht, for which Gibraltar came under British sovereignty and Catalonia lost its freedom. “We must not forget that Catalan participation was decisive for the Rock to be British territory. In 1704, a battalion of 350 Catalans commanded by General Basset, conquered the beach now called “Catalan Bay”, in remembrance of the act that allowed the landing of the Austracist expedition and the later conquest of Gibraltar,” says a press release received from the Catalans.
“Catalan separatists express solidarity with Gibraltar”
Article by the Financial Times. August 13, 2013. Full article here.
The largest separatist party of Catalonia has written to the chief minister of Gibraltar to express its “solidarity” against the “bullying and harassment” of the Spanish government in a move likely to anger Madrid as it maintains a robust stance on the British overseas territory.
The letter sent to Fabian Picardo, Gibraltan chief minister, by Esquerra Republicana (ERC), the second-largest party in Catalonia, said it “deplore[d] the methods used by Spanish power” in the conflict over Gibraltar, and accused the Spanish government of using the conflict as a smoke screen to distract from an ongoing party financing scandal.
“Britain and Gibraltar explore legal case against Spain over border delays”
Article by The Guardian. August 13, 2013. Full article here.
UK sends third warship as Spanish defend checks that keep cars queuing for four hours as ‘legal and proportionate’.
Spain is imposing four-hour queues at its border with Gibraltar as a third Royal Navy warship left Portsmouth on Tuesday morning for the British overseas territory.
The government of Gibraltar has also said it is also exploring whether it has a legal case against Spain on the basis that the delays on both sides of the border, some as long as seven hours and in 36C heat, infringe the human rights of Gibraltarians.
You can read more about the Utrech Treaty here.
Americans For Catalonia 