300,000 people march at Catalonia unity rally
Barcelona, Oct. 29: Prounity protesters gathered for a rally in Catalonia's capital Barcelona today, two days after regional lawmakers voted to break away from Spain, plunging the country into an unprecedented political crisis.
About 300,000 people turned out for a rally in favour of Spanish unity, the municipal police said, while organisers estimated turnout at 1.1 million.
As protesters gathered for the march, the deputy president of the region’s now-deposed government lashed out against Madrid over what he called a “coup d’etat”.
“The president of the country is and will remain Carles Puig-demont,” his deputy Oriol Junqueras wrote in Catalan newspaper El Punt Avui.
Mr Junqueras used the word “country” to refer to Catalonia, whose lawmakers pushed Spain into uncharted waters Friday with a vote to declare the region independent.
“We cannot recognise the coup d’etat against Catalonia, nor any of the anti-democratic decisions that the PP (Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s ruling Popular Party) is adopting by remote control from Madrid,” Mr Junqueras wrote.
He signed the article as the “vice president of the government of Catalonia”.
The Catalan crisis was triggered by a banned independence referendum on October 1 that was shunned by many, and marred by police violence.
Then on Friday, Catalan lawmakers passed a motion, by 70 votes out of 135 in the secessionistmajority regional parliament, to declare the region of 7.5 million people independent from Spain.
Mr Rajoy responded by deposing the regional government, dissolving its parliament, and calling December 21 elections to replace them. — AFP