BARCELONA city centre has once again been doctored on Google Maps – and this time, the Catalunya Parliament building is showing as 'closed' and has been renamed 'The Comedy Club'.
A search in the catalán language shows this and adds a 'Monument to Spanish Unity' in the Plaza de Joan Fiveller in front, on the site of which is in fact a museum.
When searching in Castilian Spanish, instead of 'closed', the 'Comedy Club' shows as being 'open at weekends'.
The Club de la Comedia is a long-running series on Spanish TV featuring well-known stand-up comedians, some of the best monologues from which have been compiled into a series of books.
This anonymous 'amendment' to Google Maps is in response to the current unsettled regional government situation – following the elections in Catalunya called by the Spanish State, which seized control of the region in October, the pro-independence parties gained a majority and deposed president Carles Puigdemont, who is presently in exile in Brussels, and his former deputy Oriol Junqueras, who is in prison for his role in the disputed referendum, both intend to be sworn in as MPs and to run for the job of ruling Catalunya, despite not being in situ.
Puigdemont is 'safe' in Belgium, but if he sets foot on Spanish soil, will be immediately taken into custody due to a national arrest warrant.
Prison or exile does not technically stop a person from being a regional president – although it would make the job difficult, and the obligatory swearing-in ceremony impossible, as this has to be carried out in the Parliament building.
