A former castellera denounces that she suffered abuse from the current president of a group | News from Catalonia

A former member of the Colla Castellera de Sant Pere i Sant Pau de Tarragona has denounced in a letter to the entity that in 2018, when she was only 13 years old, she was a victim of sexual abuse by the current president of the colla, according to this report. Friday the media Porta Enrere and sources from the group have confirmed to EFE. In October, the young woman sent a letter to the group in which she details that her alleged attacker, who was vocal at the time, touched her, kissed her and sent her messages of sexual content for a few weeks.

The complainant, who was part of the group of grallers, claims that the alleged aggressor always kissed and touched her over her clothes, in the entity’s meeting room or even in the doorway of the building where she lived. The Colla Castellera de Sant Pere i Sant Pau points out, through a statement, that it has been aware of the events since October 1, when the victim informed them, and “an instruction group was immediately created and the steps that were followed were followed. marks the sexual and gender-based harassment protocol that the Coordinator of the Colles Castelleres de Catalunya made available to all collas at the end of 2023.”

However, the young woman explains that she sought support from her fellow members of the group, but that, instead of supporting her, they blamed and excluded her and asked her to delete the messages and not say anything. According to Porta Enrere, the former castellera kept silent for fear of being expelled from the group, since playing the gralla with the Castellersde Sant Pere i Sant Pau was her great passion, but she finally ended up leaving the group.

The young woman, who is now 19 years old, maintains in the writing that for many years she felt ashamed. for having been a victim of that event and argues that his complaint aims to create a safer environment in the colla and to ensure that such a situation does not happen again. She also asks that its president be removed from the entity, whom she contacted to demand an apology that, she says, did not arrive.

For its part, the Colla Castellera of Sant Pere i Sant Pau emphasizes that it rejects any type of abuse or violence, and explains that, after receiving external legal advice, its action is limited because the complainant is no longer part of the group. “We find ourselves with legal limitations that we cannot ignore and that condition the action we can take,” they explain in their statement – “given that the complainant is a former member of the colla and there is no internal regime that contemplates action in this case. ”.

In this sense, they advance that they are working on a harassment protocol “adapted to the reality of the group” so that it can be approved at their next assembly and integrated into their statutes, in order to “act with the necessary forcefulness in the face of these u other facts” that go against the values ​​of the group and the society they want.