After the referendum, they adopted the new objective to fight for the Catalan Republic, and publicly called for violent protests and civil disobedience.

[1] The Committees for the Defense of the Republic have also made acts of sabotage, blocking railway lines and the Barcelona–El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport.

Their initial goal was to collaborate with the implementation of the Catalan independence referendum (1-O) which had been suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court.

After the referendum, the Committees promoted demonstrations against the Spanish police and organized several actions during the general strike of October 2017.

[2][3] On June 17 2021, Spanish Guardia Civil (National Guard) concluded an investigation that defined the CDR as a "criminal organisation with terrorist purposes [and] capacity of assault, occupation and seize of institutional Catalan buildings and infrastructures.