Thousands protest against Catalan independence in Barcelona

People take to the streets to defend Spain's unity, its constitution and protest against the independence referendum. File picture: Xinhua/Guo Qiuda

People take to the streets to defend Spain's unity, its constitution and protest against the independence referendum. File picture: Xinhua/Guo Qiuda

Published Oct 8, 2017

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Barcelona - Tens of thousands of people

took to the streets of Catalonia's capital Barcelona on Sunday

to express their opposition to any declaration of independence

from Spain, showing how divided the region is on the issue.

The protesters rallied in central Barcelona, waving Spanish

and Catalan flags and banners saying "Catalonia is Spain" and

"Together we are stronger", as politicians on both sides

hardened their positions in the country's worst political crisis

for decades.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Saturday he

would not rule out removing Catalonia's government and calling a

fresh local election if it claimed independence, as well as

suspending the region's existing autonomous status.

The stark warning came days before Catalan leader Carles

Puigdemont is expected to address the region's parliament, on

Tuesday, when he could unilaterally declare independence.

"We feel both Catalan and Spanish," Araceli Ponze, 72, said

as she rallied in Barcelona. "We are facing a tremendous

unknown. We will see what happens this week but we have to speak

out very loudly so they know what we want."

The wealthy northeastern region of 7.5 million people, which

has its own language and culture, held an independence

referendum on Oct. 1 in defiance of a Spanish court ban.

More than 90% of the 2.3 million people who voted

backed secession, according to Catalan officials. 

But that

turnout represented only 43% of the region's 5.3 million

eligible voters as many opponents of independence stayed away.

The Spanish government sent thousands of national police

into the region to prevent the vote. About 900 people were

injured when officers fired rubber bullets and charged crowds

with truncheons in scenes that shocked Spain and the world, and

dramatically escalated the dispute.

Losing Catalonia is almost unthinkable for the Spanish

government.

It would deprive Spain of about 16% of its people, a

fifth of its economic output and more than a quarter of its

exports. Catalonia is also the top destination for foreign

tourists, attracting about a quarter of Spain's total.

The political stand-off has pushed banks and companies to

move their headquarters outside Catalonia. Concern is growing in

EU capitals about the impact of the crisis on the Spanish

economy, the fourth largest in the euro zone, and on possible

spillovers to other economies.

Some European officials are also worried that any softening

in Spain's stance towards Catalan independence could fuel

secessionist feelings among other groups in Europe such as

Belgium's Flemings and Italy's Lombards.

'DRASTIC SOLUTIONS'

The demonstration in Barcelona was organised by the

anti-independence group Catalan Civil Society under the slogan

"Let's recover our senses" to mobilise what it believes is a

"silent majority" of citizens in Catalonia who oppose

independence.

"The people who have come to demonstrate don't feel Catalan

so much as Spanish," said 40-year-old engineer Raul Briones,

wearing a Spanish national soccer team shirt. "We like how

things have been up until now and want to go on like this."

It was a second day of protests after tens of thousands of

people gathered in 50 cities across Spain on Saturday, some

defending Spain's national unity and others dressed in white and

calling for talks to defuse the crisis.

Until this weekend, Rajoy has remained vague on whether he

would use article 155 of the constitution, the so-called nuclear

option which enables him to sack the regional government and

call a local election.

Asked if he was ready to trigger article 155, Rajoy told El

Pais newspaper: "I don't rule out anything that is within the

law ... Ideally, we shouldn't have to take drastic solutions but

for that not to happen there would have to be changes."

The conservative prime minister ruled out using mediators to

resolve the crisis - something Puigdemont has said he is open to

- and said the issue would not force a snap national election.

Rajoy added the government would "prevent any declaration of

independence from materialising in anything".

"Spain will continue being Spain," he said.

Nicola Sturgeon, the pro-independence leader of Scotland,

which voted to remain part of the United Kingdom in a 2014

referendum, said: "Everyone has to accept reality, this will not

be resolved by both sides going to extreme positions."

"You can't simply say in a democracy there is no legal or

legitimate way for people to decide their own future, that would

be an absurd position," she added. 

AP

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