page_title: Assemblea Nacional Catalana
section_title: 11 September 2012
hierarchical_section_title: Assemblea Nacional Catalana / Campaigns and activity / 11 September 2012
caption_attribution_description: Català: Fanals-Banc (Barcelona). This is a photo of a building indexed in the Catalan heritage register as Bé Cultural d'Interès Local (BCIL) under the reference 08019/1505. Object location41°&#160;23′&#160;24.77″&#160;N, 2°&#160;10′&#160;01.76″&#160;E&#160;View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap - Google Earth
context_page_description: The Assemblea Nacional Catalana is an organization that seeks the political independence of Catalonia from Spain. It also promotes the independence of other Catalan-speaking regions, which are collectively known as the Catalan Countries.
  Its current president is Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol, who was imprisoned on 16 October 2017 for his role in pro-independence protests during the days before the Catalan referendum. In January 2015, it claimed more than 80,000 members, of which 40,132 were full-paying members and 39,946 were signed up as volunteer collaborators.
  The ANC has 10 regional subdivisions which are represented on the national board as well as professional groups for various private sectors, and 37 foreign branches around the world.
context_section_description: At the end of June, 2012, the so-called "March toward Independence" begun in Seu Vella (Lleida). After a series of festive, symbolic, and protest events, this march would culminate on 11 September with a massive march on Barcelona, with the slogan "Catalonia, new state in Europe". It was a historic day for the separatist camp, both for the number of people in attendance as well as the markedly pro-independence tone of the march, never before seen in such a well-attended event (estimates of the crowds range widely, from 600,000 people quoted by some media, statisticians such as Llorenç Badiella from the Autonomous University of Barcelona or the delegation of the Spanish government in Catalonia to 1.5 million according to Catalan public sources such as Barcelona's Municipal Police or Catalonia's Department of the Interior, with a maximum estimate of about 2 million according to the organizers)
  Two days after the demonstration, the president of the ANC, Carme Forcadell, and four additional members of the group's board were officially received at the Catalan Government Palace by then president Artur Mas. During the meeting, they suggested to him that he called plebescitary elections to the Parliament of Catalonia on independence and that he called for a referendum in 2014.
  As a result of the demonstration, Mas called a snap election to the Catalan Parliament for 25 November 2012 and made clear in his speech in the inaugural session of the General Policy Debates that he was convinced that the Parliament that came out of the new elections would have as its mission the exercise of the right to self-determination of Catalonia.
caption: 2012 Catalan independence demonstration
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