Hundreds of thousands of separatist-minded Catalans have rallied in Barcelona to show their support for an independent nation that would break away from Spain, leaving it without its powerful and prosperous northeastern region.

Barcelona police estimated on their Twitter account that about 540,000 people attended Saturday’s demonstration in support of a legally binding referendum on secession.

Spain argues that an independent Catalonia would be ejected from the European Union and left out from using the euro currency.

Catalan National Day has long been used to mobilize the masses in support of secession from Spain, which has said any referendum on the issue would be unconstitutional. The economically powerful Catalonia accounts for 18 percent of Spain’s economic output. </s> Huge rally in Barcelona to demand jailed separatists go free

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Catalan separatists rallied in downtown Barcelona on Sunday to demand the release of high-profile secessionist leaders being held in pre-trial detention.

Protesters waved Catalan separatist flags behind a huge banner that read "for rights and liberties, for democracy and unity, we want them back home!"

The demonstration was organized by two pro-independence grassroots groups, the National Catalan Assembly and Omnium, whose presidents are among the nine separatists in prison awaiting trial for their roles in last year's failed breakaway bid by the northeastern Spanish region.

The regional chapters of Spain's two leading labor unions, along with other civil society groups, supported the protest despite the complaints from some members who don't want secession for Catalonia. Barcelona police said 315,000 people participated in the protest.

"The majority of Catalans, regardless of their political position, agree that pre-trial jail is not justified," said regional UGT union leader Camil Ros. "What we as labor unions are asking for now is dialogue."

The secession movement in the wealthy region has plunged Spain into its deepest institutional crisis in decades.

Separatist lawmakers defied court orders and held an ad-hoc referendum on independence in October. Their subsequent declaration of independence for the region led to a crackdown by Spanish authorities acting to defend the Spanish Constitution, which declares the nation "indivisible."

Pro-independence parties retained a slim majority in Catalonia's parliament after an election in December, but courts have blocked their attempts to elect as regional chief any lawmaker who is either behind bars or has fled the country.

The latest opinion poll published by the Catalan government in February said that support for independence had decreased to 40 percent from near 49 percent in October. The poll surveyed 1,200 people and had a margin of error of 2.8 percent. </s> Madrid: Tens of thousands of Spaniards from the northern Basque Country have formed a line that stretched over 200 kilometres to demand a ballot on secession for the wealthy region.

Protesters held hands or extended scarves between themselves to form the human chain, which connected the cities of San Sebastian, Bilbao and the regional seat Vitoria.

The scarves bore the slogan "It's in our hands" written in Basque

Organisers say 175,000 people participated, including Basque and Catalan pro-secession politicians and activists. Basque police did not give an official count. </s> Thousands of Catalan separatists took to the streets of the Spanish capital Saturday to denounce the prosecution of 12 of their leaders, on trial for their part in the failed 2017 independence bid.

Police estimated that some 18,000 people marched through the city centre, the first such demonstration by Catalan separatists in Madrid since 2012.

Many of the protesters carried the red-and-yellow striped flag of Catalonia, and a banner at the front of the march read: “Self-determination is not a crime”.

The separatists denounce the court case mounted against the regional politicians as a politically motivated show trial.

Nine of the 12 on trial at Madrid’s Supreme Court face up to 25 years in jail on charges of rebellion and other offences for pushing a secession bid referendum in October 2017 in defiance of a court ban, and for a brief declaration of independence.

The moves sparked Spain’s deepest political crisis since the transition to democracy in the 1970s after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. </s> Tens of thousands of Spaniards from the northern Basque Country have formed a line that stretched over 200 kilometers (124 miles) to demand a ballot on secession for the wealthy region.

Protesters held hands or extended scarves between themselves to form the human chain, which connected the cities of San Sebastian, Bilbao and regional seat Vitoria.

The scarves bore the slogan "It's in our hands" written in Basque

Organizers say 175,000 people participated, including Basque and Catalan pro-secession politicians and activists. Basque police did not give an official count.

The demonstration took place just over a month since Basque militant group ETA announced its dissolution.

Spain has refused to allow an official referendum on secession by the Catalonia region, whose leaders tried and failed to declare independence last year. </s> BARCELONA, Spain — Hundreds of thousands of Catalan separatists let out a collective shout as they marched along a main artery in Barcelona on Tuesday, marking the first of a series of mass mobilizations demanding independence from Spain and the release of several high-profile secessionists from jail.

With the official slogan "Let's Make the Catalan Republic" printed on pink T-shirts and signs, protesters went silent at 5.14 p.m., which on a 24-hour clock is 1714 — the year when Barcelona fell in the Spanish War of Succession.

A loud cheer and cries of "independence" and "freedom" followed, sweeping along a six-kilometer (3.7-mile) -long stretch of the city's Diagonal avenue. In a giant symbolic wall, protesters toppled the image of a king of spades playing card, in an apparent rejection of the Spanish monarchy.

Barcelona's local police estimated around 1 million protesters took part. Grassroots organizers said that 470,000 people had signed up online for the rally, with many more expected to join in.

The march on the traditional Sept. 11 holiday in Catalonia called "la Diada" has drawn similarly huge crowds of secession supporters in recent past years.

This year's demonstration comes nearly one year after an illegal referendum on secession held by Catalan authorities led to an ineffective independence declaration that received no international recognition. Catalan separatist leaders and activists who pushed it, defying Spain's constitutional protection of territorial integrity, are either in prison awaiting trial or have fled the country.

Quim Torra, Catalonia's regional president, said Tuesday that while maintaining his pledge to see through the breakaway bid, his immediate focus is on putting pressure on the courts ahead of the trials of the separatist movement's jailed leaders.

Torra's goal is to stoke public showings of strength on Oct. 1, the anniversary of the referendum that was met by a police crackdown, the failed declaration of independence last Oct. 27, and the imminent start of the trials.

"In the coming weeks we are going to put all out efforts into denouncing" the situation of the jailed separatists, Torra said. "If the prisoners are not absolved, my government and the Catalan Parliament will take necessary action."

Some within the secessionist movement want Torra's government to immediately try again to unilaterally break with Spain.

"We have come here today to demand once again freedom for Catalonia," said 57-year-old Lourdes Casajus, who came from her home in Vic, a town in the Catalan heartland, to join the separatist rally. "Last Oct. 1, we voted in a referendum and the majority for independence wasn't respected. This Sept. 11 we demand that all the politicians, both from there and ours here, respect the people's will."

Torra, who came to power after secessionist parties won a regional election, has met with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and is planning a second meeting, in what is considered a thawing of relations between Madrid and Barcelona. Torra wants Spain's new center-left national government to agree to a binding independence referendum, while Sanchez will only offer a vote on increasing northeastern Catalonia's already considerable degree of self-rule.

Catalonia's separatist political parties, which hold seats in Spain's Parliament, have failed to garner support to amend the Spanish Constitution to allow a vote on secession.

Sanchez issued an appeal to "start a dialogue between Catalans" on Tuesday.

Polls and official election results indicate that roughly half of Catalonia's 7.5 million residents are against severing century-old ties with the rest of Spain. Catalans have family in other parts of Spain, share in its cultural traditions and speak Spanish along with Catalan.

Non-separatists often say they no longer feel welcome at "la Diada," which they say has ceased to be a celebration of Catalan identity and become a political rally.

"I have attended almost all of Catalonia Day celebrations," 51-year-old Victor Pozanco said. "But five years ago I stopped attending. I don't want to be counted as another separatist simply by attending the rally. Because I am not one of them, but I am Catalan."

There are also those who feel that the tensions that have arisen because of the secession question are taking an ugly toll on families and friendships.

"I am in the middle," 53-year-old cafe owner Nelida Adell said. "I have more affinities with the separatists but I also have family ties in the rest of Spain. So I don't want a radical break. I would like tensions to decrease. I fear things could get out of hand." </s> Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators take to the streets of Barcelona

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

More than 300,000 people are estimated to have taken to the streets of Barcelona to call for the return of the 16 Catalan leaders who are in prison or have fled the country in the aftermath of last October’s unilateral independence referendum.



Sunday’s mass demonstration, which was called by the two main Catalan pro-independence groups and backed by the regional branches of Spain’s two biggest unions, took place under the slogan “For rights and freedoms, for democracy and cohesion, we want you home!”

Police put attendance at 315,000 while the organisers said 750,000 people had turned out to take part in the protest, with the city’s streets once again filled with people dressed in yellow clutching pro-independence estelada flags.

The former regional president, Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium at the end of October and is on bail in Germany, tweeted that the march was “a great civic and democratic demonstration”, adding: “We are European citizens who just want to live in peace, free and without fear.”

Elsa Artadi, a spokeswoman for Puigdemont’s Together for Catalonia party, said the event put paid to suggestions that the independence movement was running out of steam.

“We’re once again showing all those who say that the movement is demobilising, or that people are tired, that things aren’t that way,” she said. “We’re here today because there are 16 people in prison or in exile for defending political ideas that represent 2 million people.”

Alex de Ferrer, a 50-year-old IT specialist, told Agence France Presse that he had decided to join the protest as jailing separatist leaders “only serves to manufacture separatists”.

While conceding that the arrests of prominent Catalan leaders on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds had left the independence movement “decapitated”, he said the setback was only temporary.

The involvement of the Catalan branches of the Workers’ Commissions and General Workers’ Union was not universally endorsed as some members oppose the region’s secession.

But the regional secretary general of the latter defended the move. “The majority of Catalans, regardless of their political position, agree that pre-trial jail is not justified,” said Camil Ros. “What we as labour unions are asking for now is dialogue.”

The protest came almost six months after the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, responded to the illegal referendum and subsequent unilateral declaration of independence by sacking Puigdemont’s government and taking direct control of the region.



Rajoy also called elections in December, a move that backfired after the pro-independence bloc retained its parliamentary majority. Repeated attempts to form a new Catalan government have come to nothing as Puigdemont remains in self-imposed exile and two other presidential candidates – Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Turull – are on remand.

Despite the huge turnout and the talk of cohesion and coexistence, polls suggest Catalans remain deeply and almost evenly divided over the notion of seceding from Spain.

While the overwhelming majority of people in the region favour a legal referendum agreed between Madrid and Barcelona, a recent survey found that support for independence dropped from 48.7% last October to 40.8% in February this year.

An anti-independence rally held in Barcelona last November attracted hundreds of thousands of protesters. Police put attendance at 350,000; organisers said 930,000 people took part. </s> Tens of thousands of supporters of Catalan independence have rallied in Spain's capital Madrid in protest at an ongoing trial of 12 separatist leaders.

Many waved Catalan flags and had placards reading "Self-determination is not a crime".

Protest organisers said 120,000 people marched in Madrid. Spanish police put the number at just 18,000.

The separatist leaders of Catalonia's failed 2017 independence bid face rebellion and sedition charges.

If convicted, some could face up to 25 years in prison.

The rally was organised by more than 60 civil society groups from all over Spain.

Hundreds of buses were laid on to bring demonstrators to Madrid from Catalonia and other regions.

The protesters then marched from the Atocha train station to the Plaza de Cibeles.

There have been no reports of any violence.

What's the background to this?

The semi-autonomous north-eastern region of Catalonia held an independence referendum on 1 October 2017, and declared its independence from Spain weeks later.

Spanish authorities later declared the Catalan vote illegal, and the national government imposed direct rule.

Spain's 1978 constitution speaks of "the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".

The Catalonia crisis is considered the most serious to hit Spain since the era of fascist dictator Francisco Franco, who died in 1975. </s> 1 million rally in Barcelona for independence from Spain

A massive crowd around 1-million strong surged into the streets of Barcelona Monday to mark Catalonia’s national day – the “Diada” – and show support for an independence referendum that Spain’s central government says is illegal.

Catalonia’s pro-independence government plans to hold the referendum on Oct. 1 in defiance of Spain, the BBC reported. Catalonia has passed a law to secede from Spain if the vote is Yes.

Opinion polls suggest the vote, if it takes place, will be very close, the BBC reported. – READ MORE
In a protest in Barcelona, an estimated 800,000 people (370,000 in the government claim) demand secession from the Madrid-based Spanish government.