Barcelona city council plans to hang a yellow ribbon on the front of the town hall building calling for the release of the “political prisoners” Oriol Junqueras, Joaquim Forn, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, and in support of their families and friends.

The local authority intends the gesture as a rejection of the court’s decision to keep the Catalan MPs and the heads of Catalonia’s two largest civic organisations –ACN and Òmnium- "which have always acted peacefully" in preventive custody.

The city council took the decision to show support for the officials now that the orders of the Electoral Commission to take down a poster in support of the “political prisoners” in the run-up to the election is no longer relevant.

The council has called for their release on a number of occasions

Since the Catalan MPs and the ANC and Òmnium heads were jailed, the council has called for their release on a number of occasions. A coalition of political parties made a joint declaration in support of the prisoners on October 17.

The poster supporting the prisoners was unveiled on November 2, and was followed by a speech by Barcelona mayor, Ada Colau, who called a session of the local authority for the next day, in which an official declaration calling for the release of the officials was made.

The Electoral Commission called for the poster to be removed

As the Catalan election on December 21 approached, the Electoral Commission called for the poster to be removed. With the election now over, a majority of groups in the council has decided “to denounce the abuse of such an exceptional measure as preventive custody.”