Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun has called on the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni to support his request for the National Police station at 43 Via Laietana to be relocated.

Urtasun wants Spain's Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to order the move so the central Barcelona building can be dedicated exclusively to democratic memory. The proposal concerns residents and visitors using Via Laietana because the building remains an operating National Police facility under the current declaration.

“We demand that the declaration as a memory site entails the National Police station being moved to other premises and that this building is dedicated exclusively to the democratic memory of our country.”

Urtasun made the call on Friday, 17 July, after the Official State Gazette published the designation of the building as a Place of Democratic Memory.

The declaration does not change the building's current use

The published declaration states that the designation does not alter the building's current use. Via Laietana 43 is the headquarters of the National Police in Catalonia.

The notice recognises the site as a centre of repression against Barcelona's trade-union and working-class movements during the Franco dictatorship, and says that hundreds of anti-Franco opponents passed through its cells and were subjected to interrogations and torture.

Urtasun said a commemorative plaque alone would not be enough, rejecting the continued operation of the police station in a building designated for democratic memory.

No relocation timetable has been announced

Grande-Marlaska's Interior Ministry has not announced a relocation date or replacement premises in the material reported on 17 July. The designation currently leaves the National Police operation at Via Laietana 43 unchanged.

Reported by Source Text Link, europapress.es, Sara González, infobae.com, Agencia EFE, europapress.tv, naciodigital.cat, elmundo.es, Marc Toro, Jordi Martín, Sílvia Marimon, catalannews.com, Jordi Palmer, Ona Falcó, Europa Press Barcelona.