My apologies as well for those of you who are not interested.
As you very well say, hygiene and potential troubles with the football match tomorrow is the official version, but the measure has been taken in other Catalan cities like Lleida and, according to some Facebook reports, Badalona. I wonder whether the influx of tourists in Barcelona this weekend has also had an effect, given that a major music festival is taking place in the city and that traditionally attracts thousands of people from abroad.
In Madrid, members of PP have asked the government to evacuate Plaza del Sol - obviously with no excuse about impending football game in hand. A group of shop owners in Madrid have expressed their discontent with the protests as their sales go down. More, in Spanish, here: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/comerciantes/piden/vayan/Gobierno/regional/exige/desalojo/elpepuesp/20110527elpepunac_5/Tes
And, yes, the "just get out for the weekend and come back on Monday" attitude is representative of how little respect and credit the Catalan government has given to this protest. Soon enough they'll rent us allocated spaces for dissent.
Best,
Cristina
Cristina Delgado García
PhD Candidate
Aberystwyh University, UK
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