Spain’s ruling People’s Party asked the Electoral Commission to forbid Catalonia’s public media from broadcasting Saturday’s rally, called to demand the release of imprisoned pro-independence leaders. The leader of the party in Catalonia, Xavier García Albiol, deems as “inadmissible” what he considers to be the “partisan use” of Catalan public TV. According to him, broadcasting Saturday’s demonstration would be “another disloyalty from this channel, which would favor an ideology that aims to break Catalonia from Spain.”

Although the official electoral campaign is set to begin on December 5, Albiol argued that the demonstration takes place during an election period and therefore it should not be broadcasted. The allegation period for the Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation (CCMA) expired at 3 pm. The Electoral Commission is to make a final decision soon afterward.