At the first plenary session of the Catalan Parliament following the summer recess on Wednesday 23 September 2026, members of Junts, Esquerra Republicana (ERC), Comuns and the CUP held up posters featuring a historic anti-fascist image: an espadrille crushing a swastika. The photograph, taken by Pere Català Pic, carried the message: "the espadrille or the swastika, you decide".
The symbolic act took place just before President Salvador Illa addressed the chamber on the ongoing education crisis sparked by recent PISA test results. The four parties coordinated the display as a direct response to actions taken by Aliança Catalana (AC) in the previous days.
This follows AC’s controversial vote in the board of spokespersons on Tuesday, when it supported the withdrawal of a reprimand against Vox spokesperson Joan Garriga for calling former Generalitat President Lluís Companys an "assassin". According to reporting from La Vanguardia and VilaWeb, AC later clarified that the vote was a mistake made by deputy Rosa Maria Soberana. Sílvia Orriols, leader of AC and mayor of Ripoll, stated: "In no case does Aliança tolerate or endorse calling Lluís Companys an assassin. Calling someone an assassin without proof is not freedom of expression, it is slander."
Historical Image, Contemporary Message
The poster referenced a well-known 1936 anti-fascist propaganda piece, originally titled "Let’s crush fascism", also by Català Pic. The symbolism gained renewed attention after Aliança Catalana’s international office account on X responded to a user who shared the original poster with: "We have already passed." That phrase echoes a Francoist slogan used after the Spanish Civil War in 1939.
The four groups believe a response was needed to what they describe as constant hate speeches in the Catalan Parliament.
The joint action by Junts, ERC, Comuns and CUP underscores growing tensions over rhetoric within the chamber. The Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC) did not participate in the protest. They explained that minutes before addressing the education crisis, "it was not a moment for dramatization".
Reported by lavanguardia.com, VilaWeb Feed, La Vanguardia Catalonia.
