Hundreds of singers taking part in a ceremony at Barcelona’s Sagrada Família were expelled and surrounded by security on 10 November after some tried to display Catalan independence flags. Miquel Àngel Tarin, one of about 600 singers, said the response felt like “the repression of the Francoist regime”.
The incident took place during a ceremony presided over by Pope Leo XIV, just before the blessing of the Jesus tower. The singers were later prevented from taking part in the light and music show planned for the Nativity façade.
According to Tarin, the tension began on Monday, 8 November, during the general rehearsal. Participants spent more than two hours practising movements for the light show. After singing “El Virolai”, some singers began to sing “Els Segadors”, the Catalan national anthem, and an informal plan formed to repeat it during the official ceremony.
Another singer, from the Coral Cantiga de Lluïsos de Gràcia, said the idea spread among the choirs. On the day of the ceremony, some participants handed out DIN A3 sheets with instructions and double scores that, when unfolded, showed an estelada, the Catalan independence flag. The singer said the sheet referred to showing estelades during “El Virolai”, “always with great respect for Gaudí and the Sagrada Família”. There were also signs reading “In Catalonia, in Catalan” and others with feminist and LGTBIQ+ symbols.
Singers said security guards were present throughout, including some in plain clothes, and described the deployment as disproportionate. One participant said their choir, with about forty people, had four guards in front and three behind. Around 7pm, Tarin said, a Sagrada Família official, accompanied by several guards, warned each group that no flags could be displayed. He said they were told it was a religious act and no kind of flag could be shown.
Tarin said some paper estelades were confiscated and bags and scores were checked page by page. He said singers were then told to leave their positions after the first verse of “El Virolai”, and were escorted out through a back door. Outside, they were led and surrounded at the junction of Mallorca and Sardenya streets, with Mossos d’Esquadra on both sides, until mass attendees had left. Tarin said they received no explanation beyond being told, in Spanish, that it was for security reasons.
Once outside, some singers began to sing “Els Segadors”. Tarin said the anthem did not put anyone at risk and that they should not have been treated like criminals. The Sagrada Família later said that the performance of “Els Segadors” was not part of the approved programme and that paper estelades had not been foreseen during the act.