The Catalan independence movement will measure its strength this Saturday by returning to the streets of Barcelona for the traditional separatist demonstration for the regional festival of Catalonia, a few days after resuming negotiations with the Spanish government.
Under the slogan “Let’s fight and win independence”, the influential Catalan National Assembly (ANC) aims to recover the spirit of the massive demonstrations for the Day of September 11, which became key events of secessionism for a decade.
As is tradition, the march will start at 5:14 p.m. local time (3:14 p.m. GMT), in homage to the fall of Barcelona before the troops of King Felipe V in 1714 during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Epicenter in July of the fifth wave of the pandemic, the decrease in infections allowed Catalonia to lift the limitation of meetings to less than ten people on Friday, and the demonstration can be held on the move. The organizers have recommended, however, that attendees wear a mask and avoid crowding.
In the peak years of the separatist escalation, this march gathered up to 1.8 million people in 2014, filling Barcelona with stellate flags and proclamations for the independence of this rich region of 7.8 million inhabitants in the northeast of Spain. .
“On September 11 we will be able to bring hundreds of thousands of people to the streets”, launched Jordi Cuixart, president of the Catalan association Òmnium Cultural. “We will show again that the movement is more alive than ever,” he promised.
But since the failure of the 2017 secession attempt, the disappointment and divisions that gripped separatism have also jumped into the streets. With 600,000 protesters, the 2019 march was the least crowded since the massive Diadas began in 2012. Marked by sanitary restrictions, last year’s events did not reach 60,000 attendees.
– Division –
This Day will also be the first to be held since the pardon in June of the nine independence leaders imprisoned for their participation in the secession attempt, including Cuixart. The fight to free the prisoners kept the movement cohesive after the disappointment of 2017, but the pardons of the Spanish government opened a new stage, with the independence movement divided on what strategy to adopt.
Now in the regional government, the Republican Left party of Catalonia (ERC) prefers to negotiate to agree a referendum on self-determination with the Spanish state, while more radical sectors of secessionism, such as Junts, do not totally renounce the unilateral path.
The Catalan crisis – which reached its climax in the frenzied autumn of 2017 with the holding of an illegal referendum that shortly thereafter would lead to a short-lived declaration of independence – plunged Spain into one of its most politically delicate moments since the end of the Franco dictatorship. in 1975.
After a few weeks of enormous tension, the attempt ended the regional autonomy intervened by Madrid and the independence leaders arrested or abroad, such as the former regional president, Carles Puigdemont.
– Dialogue –
This year’s Diada arrives, however, in another stage, a few days after the leftist government of Pedro Sánchez and the regional executive of Pere Aragonès resume negotiations to find a way out of the crisis, after the only meeting held before. of the pandemic.
But despite the fact that Aragonès’ party, ERC, is a key ally of Sánchez’s minority government in the Spanish Congress, both arrive with opposite roadmaps.
Madrid does not contemplate accepting the two key demands of the independence movement: the celebration of a self-determination referendum, which would require modifying the Constitution, nor an amnesty for those indicted for participating in the 2017 secessionist challenge.
“Catalonia is on the verge of doing something that it had never achieved before: opening a negotiation with the State, from government to government,” defended Aragonès in his speech televised by the Diada.
The dialogue, however, is announced as very difficult, especially after Madrid announced this week the suspension of the controversial Barcelona airport expansion project, alleging lack of confidence in the regional executive, in a decision that Aragonès described as “blackmail” and triggered the tension again.
rs-mg / erl