Puigdemont on Nice terrorist attack: ‘France’s mourning is also Catalonia’s’

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, expressed his ‘deep condolences’ to the French people, in particular those of Nice, which he considered ‘neighbours and brothers’. ‘France’s mourning is also Catalonia’s’, said Puigdemont. The Catalan President made an official statement to condemn the terrorist attack which killed 84 people on Thursday night in the French coastal city of Nice, while thousands were celebrating Bastille Day on the streets. ‘Today we want to add Catalonia’s voice to those raised in many democratic countries, which respect freedom and religious and cultural diversity’, stated Puigdemont. ‘They won’t beat us, they won’t break [our] cohesion nor dispel the fraternity we feel for those who are victims of terrorism today but who could be others tomorrow’, he added. Puigdemont’s statement came before the one minute’s silence held on Barcelona’s Plaça Sant Jaume, the square between the Catalan Government’s headquarters and Barcelona’s City Hall.

Puigdemont also praised the efforts of the Catalan Police, ‘Mossos d’Esquadra’ and emphasised its ‘will to collaborate in a fight which is also Catalonia’s’. In this vein, he emphasised that ‘Mossos d’Esquadra’ are ‘at the disposal of the anti-terrorist fight’ and work hard to ‘battle the potential terrorist threats’ in Catalonia.