This week on Twitter the trending topics in Spain are #tsunamidemocratic, #Barcelona, #155ya or #SpainIsAFascistEstate (by the way, someone should inform the activists the diference between state and "Estate"). But no matter what the trending topic is, an army of twitter profiles (some old, many newly created) are constantly dedicated to retweeting the new slogans that the Catalan nationalist regime's spokesmen continuously disseminate.
For example, the video went viral in which several independentistas, after raising their hands in peace, pushed an agent of the Mossos de Esquadra to the ground and kicked her. Instantly, a man with a backpack took out a baton and stood between the fallen agent and his assailants: it was a policeman who watched over safety. Well, far from hiding it, cyber-activists spread the video, saying that it was "proof that violent acts are being commited by infiltrators". Something that doesn't fit at all with the images, but that can make a foreign observer have doubts.
Other cases already enter completely into the fabulation field. Videos of the acts of vandalism carried out these nights by the violent activists, in which only bonfires and police vehicles are seen, are spreading with alarming comments like "Please help! The Spanish police are shooting FIREFIGHTERS trying to put out the fire!" Of course, the images have nothing to do, but some confused observer can relate the tense atmosphere of the video, at night, with bonfires and police lights, with the text and really think that a police officer could shoot a firefighter that tries to put out a fire. Other tweets, even more daring, try to "prove" that who really burns streets and cars is the "Spanish police" itself, although they really refer to the mossos d'esquadra, but they don't need to give that detail because they really go to the international reader, and therefore most of these comments are made in Spanish or in English, because the nationalist (mostly Catalan-speaking) are already convinced. Its main objective is the Spanish-speaking Catalans and, above all, European opinion, much more sensitive to fake news by being far from the facts.
One of the worst manipulations has been that of the "infiltrators". Since President Torra declared that nationalist violence didn't exist and that violent acts were carried out by "infiltrators", the cyber-activists of Catalan nationalism endorsed their slogan and filled Twitter with tweets about images and videos of violence in which the alarmists texts were trying to "prove" that the independence fighters who were causing fires were really "Spanishists" in disguise. "I'm not Catalan, but I'm seeing strange things", says a tweet with the hashtag #tsunamiinfiltrado "there are groups of young people who wear bulletproof vests under the sweatshirt". For credibility, the tweet seems to refer to an article that denounces some kind of Spanish conspiracy. A simple click reveals that there's no article, but only a cropped image probably made with a word processor. Material with the minimum quality for a "like & retweet". Unfortunately for them the profusion of detailed videos completely belies the theory of infiltrators. Young students wearing the nationalist flag as a cape while fanning the flames with cardboard, CDR comandos that made "selfies" with their bonfire after lighting it .. even some of the violent ones, outraged that they were considered "infiltrated" were going to camera and declare "we're not infiltrated, we are people who are furious". Twitter immediately reflected the opposite effect of the one sought by cyber-activists, that is, the hashtag #tsunamiinfiltrado began to fill with memes and jokes about the alleged "infiltrators", with mocking mounts ("Hey! I found an infiltrator!" announced a tweeter accompanying his words with a photo of a bonfire with a gross cut / paste of the effigy of Franco) or referring to the infiltrator was the woman of Torra (who participated in the "take" or siege to the airport of Prat).
However, and unlike what happened on October 1, 2017, this time the fake news are unlikely to prosper, because this time the violence has been much higher, because this time the police have maintained their interventions at minimum, despite the theatrical and heartbreaking regrets of some politicians who demand the head of the person in charge of the Mossos, this other essential change being that of making the Mossos d'Esquadra the main line of defense against terror, which makes nationalism stop considering them "our police" and becoming "invading forces". The images are clear, the videos are sharp. The cause-effect relationship of President Torra with the violent acts is undeniable without the need for the lift of the summary secret regarding the investigations of the 7 detained CDRs or the recordings in which he is allegedly heard conspiring with the CDR for infrastructure sabotage and offering to them institutional support. But the golden clasp is represented by his threat at parliamentary headquarters to repeat everything again, the illegal referendum, another challenge to democracy ... a "hooliganism" that nobody in Europe will understand and that not even nationalism itself (either in Esquerra or in the PDECAT) can already support. Not even the unfortunate violent confrontation of a small group of Spanish radicals with fascist symbols after four days of siege is capable of giving arguments to the nationalist parties. Since midweek, other hashtags have uprooted the previous ones and the trending topics have mutated to others as #TsunamiTERRORISTA.
This Saturday, as a final act, several of far-right ultras will come to Barcelona to support nationalism and feed the riots.
In short, the "story" is no longer held. The "fake news" not only will not be believed, but they'll probably open the eyes of those who believed those of two years ago.