The mayor’s decision
The governing team of Ripoll, led by Aliança Catalana, has generated controversy in the selection of the poster with the most votes for the city’s biggest party during the 40 Hours Fair, as is usual every year. The image chosen was the work of an author who had presented a proposal full of colors and starring several figures. What has generated rejection on the part of Sílvia Orriols, the mayor of the municipality, is the representation of a girl with a veil that appeared at the bottom of the poster, as she expressed through social networks. Since the author refused to make changes, she finally chose to select the poster that came in second place. All the opposition parties have unanimously condemned this decision, using terms like
Reactions of political parties
Several political formations have criticized the decision taken by Orriols. JxCat has described the withdrawal of the most voted poster as an unpopular measure and is demanding the councilor for culture to apologize for political reasons. For its part, ERC has affirmed that gender discrimination in relation to the veil has caused the change of poster, while the representative of the PSC in the city, Enric Pérez, has also denounced the limitation of freedom of expression, pointing out that this shows an authoritarianism in Ripoll. In a similar sense the CUP has expressed itself, cataloging the decision as painful and as a coercion that denies the expression of the population. Finally, the municipal manager of Som-hi Ripoll, Joaquim Colomer, spoke about the partisan election and restrictions on freedom of expression, noting that, as you can see, there are still limitations in Ripoll.