A five-year-old pupil is at the centre of a political row after Catalan nationalists threatened the child’s family for demanding more lessons be taught in Spanish.
A judge ruled in favour of the family’s petition that a quarter of the classes at a school in the town of Canet de Mar should be in Spanish, in line with a Supreme Court ruling. The child has apparently been bullied over the issue.
Nationalists have posted threats against the family online and sent messages on a WhatsApp group calling for their house to be attacked with stones. They also demanded the family be identified and that the child attend the classes in Spanish alone or be expelled.
Catalonia’s high court ordered yesterday that the school and the regional government must protect and not identify the child.
Josep Gonzàlez-Cambray, education minister for the pro-independence regional government, visited the school on Thursday and said: “We are not facing a real problem, we are facing a lie.”
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The Socialist-led minority government of Pedro Sánchez is negotiating with the separatist Catalan Republican Left party to ensure its support in approving a budget. The two sides are at odds over how much content on Netflix and other streaming platforms is broadcast in the Catalan, Basque and Galician languages.
