Around one million people rallied in
Barcelona on Tuesday, banging drums and blowing whistles in a show of
support for Catalan independence nearly a year after a failed attempt to
break away from Spain.
Wearing
coral-red T-shirts and waving the red, yellow and blue Catalan
separatist flag, a sea of protesters gathered for the rally on
Catalonia’s “national day” which commemorates Barcelona’s fall to troops
loyal to Spain’s King Philip V in 1714.
The
annual “Diada” holiday has since 2012 been used to stage a massive
rally calling for secession for the wealthy northeastern region that has
its own distinct language. But this year’s event had particular
significance as a test of strength after a referendum last October 1
deemed illegal by the courts, and the Catalan parliament’s unilateral
declaration of independence on October 27, all came to naught.
Demonstrators
climbed on each other’s shoulders to form human towers, a Catalan
tradition, while others carried yellow and black signs that read “Free
Catalan political prisoners now”, a reference to Catalan separatist
leaders in jail awaiting trial over last year’s independence bid.
“We
are demanding our right to be a nation, in a democratic and peaceful
way,” Roger Pujol, a 37-year-old olive oil producer, told AFP.
At
the start of the rally demonstrators knocked down a symbolic wall
decorated with separatist symbols, a metaphor for the power of the
people to overcome obstacles and achieve independence.
City police said on Twitter that around one million people took part, a similar amount to last year’s protest.
Organisers said they had sold more than
200,000 coral-red T-shirts - the colour used in the ties used to secure
the ballot boxes during last year’s contested referendum.
- ‘Endless march’
“We are starting an endless march,” Catalan president Quim Torra told reporters at the end of the rally.
Further
protests are planned for an anniversary of last year’s banned
referendum, which was marred by police violence, and on the anniversary
of the failed declaration of independence.
In
a televised address on Monday, Torra said his government was “committed
to implementing the republic” Catalans voted for in the referendum.
But
Oriol Bartomeus, politics professor at the Autonomous University of
Barcelona, said that “listening to the speeches of the separatist
leaders, it seems like there is no plan.”
Opposition
parties complain that separatists have transformed the “Diada” into a
holiday which excludes the half of the Catalan population that does not
favour independence.
“We Catalans
should celebrate our national day and not just a call for independence
that is shared by less than half of the population,” Spanish Foreign
Minister Josep Borrel, who is Catalan, said in Strasbourg.
A
closely-watched Catalan government poll in July showed 46.7 percent of
Catalans want an independent state, just ahead of 44.9 percent who were
opposed.
Separatist parties won a slim majority
of seats in the Catalan parliament in a December election, even though
they captured just 47.5 percent of the popular vote.
- ‘No credible dialogue’ -
But
there are growing divisions in separatist ranks between those who want
to provoke a clash with Madrid and those seeking a more conciliatory
approach.
“If a separatist is so
naive or stupid to believe he can impose independence on the 50 percent
of Catalans who are not (separatists), it’s clear that they are
mistaken,” Joan Tarda, a lawmaker for separatist party ERC in the
Spanish parliament, said last week.
The
ERC has a taken softer approach than its ally in the regional
government - former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont’s Together for
Catalonia.
.Spain’s conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy then imposed direct rule on Catalonia and called early elections.
Rajoy’s successor, socialist Pedro Sanchez, was catapulted to power in June with the support of separatist parties.
He
has offered the region a referendum on greater autonomy, but this was
rejected by Torra, who insists Madrid must allow a legally binding
independence referendum for Catalonia’s 7.5 million people.
“One
of Catalonia’s main problems is coexistence, not independence. We must
encourage dialogue amongst Catalans,” Sanchez wrote on Twitter on
Tuesday.
But Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent said “no credible dialogue is possible if those who must negotiate are in prison.”