Fascist salutes mar rallies calling for Spanish unity Echo of Franco era in protests over threat of Catalan breakaway
HUNDREDS of thousands of marchers gathered on the streets of Barcelona yesterday to protest against Catalonia’s moves to break away from Spain.
A similar protest of national unity called in the name of the ‘ silent majority’ was held in the capital Madrid on Saturday.
But both marches were marred by activists making fascist salutes.
Scores of Right-wing protesters making the one-arm gesture revived memories of the General Franco era, and of the brutal 1930s civil war that remains the source of Catalan resentment. Francoera Spanish flags, which feature a black eagle motif behind the Spanish coat of arms, were also seen in Madrid. It is legal to own the fascist flag in Spain but not to use it to stir up unrest.
Organisers said 930,000 people joined the march in Barcelona, although police put the figure at 350,000. The vast major- ity were peaceful and heeded calls not to inflame the political unrest that is threatening to tear the country apart. Many in the crowd in Barcelona – the biggest city in the potential break-away region – carried both Spanish and Catalan flags.
Some chanted ‘Don’t be fooled, Catalonia is Spain’ and called for Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to go to prison.
Barcelona protester Araceli Ponze, 72, said: ‘We feel both Catalan and Spanish. 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.’
Nobel Prize-winning novelist Mario Vargas Llosa told the huge crowd: ‘You need more than a coup plot to destroy what has been built over 500 years of history.’
Alex Ramos, of Societat Civil Catalana, the pro-unity group that called the rally under the slo- gan sense’, expressionmajority ‘Let’s saidof Catalanrecoverof it wasthe a feelings society.our long-overdue commonof the
He added: ‘ What we’ve seen today has been a social escape valve. It’s been a cathartic expression, with people saying: “Look, enough! Stop dividing us”.’
The rallies come a week after Mr Puigdemont and other separatist leaders of the Catalan government held a ‘referendum’ on independence that was not recognised by Spain’s top court or the national government. The Yes side won the referendum with 90 per cent of the vote, but on a turnout of only 43 per cent amid violence that led to 800 people being injured. This means that more than half of the electorate – labelled the ‘silent majority’ by Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy – did not vote to break away from Madrid. Mr Puigdemont has pledged to push for independence anyway and is set to address the regional parliament tomorrow ‘ to report on the current political situation’. But Mr Rajoy has vowed that his government will not allow Catalonia to break away – and he threatened to suspend the autonomy it already enjoys. He said he will consider employing any measure ‘ allowed by the law’ to stop the separatists. Mr Rajoy said that includes the application of Article 155 of the Spanish constitution, which would allow the central government to take a ment region controldoes ‘if not theof the comply regional governancewith govern-the of obligations of the constitution’. The Spanish PM added: ‘The ideal situation would be that I don’t have to find drastic solutions, but for that to happen there will have to be some rectifications (by Catalan leaders).’ Polls taken before the referendum showed that Catalonia’s 7.5 million residents were roughly split over secession.
‘A tremendous unknown’