‘I AM SPANISH’
Hundreds of thousands rally against plans of Catalonia’s government to secede from Spain
BARCELONA, Spain — Spanish unionists in Catalonia finally found their voice on Sunday, resurrecting Spain’s flag as a symbol of patriotism after decades of it being associated with the Franco dictatorship.
In a defiant challenge to plans by Catalonia’s regional government to unilaterally declare independence, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Barcelona in a surprising outpouring of Spanis hunity.
They chanted “Long Live Spain, Long Live Catalonia,” “I am Spanish, I am Spanish” and “Don’t be fooled, Catalonia is Spain” and called for regional president Carles Puigdemont to go to prison for holding an illegal referendum last week. Some of the demonstrators took to rooftops and leaned over ledges from their perches overlooking the streets below to wave giant Spanish flags in a city accustomed to the prevalence of the Catalan pro-independence“est el ada .”
Spain’s red-and-yellow flag has long been taboo here in Catalonia and throughout the country because it has been linked to groups supportive of Gen. Francisco Franco’s dictatorship. But on Sunday, a sea of Spanish flags, interspersed with some Catalan and European Union flags, dominated Barcelona’s boulevards.
Barcelona police said 350,000 people participated, while march organizers Societat Civil Catalana said that 930,000 people turned out. The march was peaceful and no major incidents werereported.
Mr. Puigdemont has pledged to push ahead for independence and is set to address the regional parliament on Tuesday “to report on the current political situation.” In the days after the Oct. 1 referendum, the momentum appeared to be on his side. Pro-independence protests were attracting large numbers and he benefited politically from a violent crackdown by Spanish police during the referendum voting.
But now the tide seems to be turning. Catalonia’s top two banks announced they were relocating their headquarters to other parts of Spain because of financial uncertainty if there is an independence declaration. Other companies are considering leaving Catalonia to avoid being cast out of the EU and its common market inthe case of secession.
And Sunday’s mass demonstration by pro-unity Catalans, under the slogan of “Let’s recover our commonsense!” will put further pressure on Mr. Puigdemont. The march was the largest pro-unionist showing since the rise of separatist sentiment in the prosperous northeastern region that has pushed Spain to the brink of a national crisis.
The rally comes a week after the Catalan government went ahead and held a referendum on secession that Spain’s top court had suspended and the Spanish government said was illegal.
Catalan authorities say the “Yes” side won the referendum with 90 percent of the vote, though only 43 percent of the region’s 5.3 million eligible voters turned out in polling that was marred by police raids of polling stations on orders to confiscate ballot boxes.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy vows that his government will not allow Catalonia, which represents a fifth of Spain’s economy, to break away from the rest of the country.