Scores of Catalans emphasize their right to break from Spain
BARCELONA, Spain — Hundreds of thousands of people packed the sunny streets of downtown Barcelona on Monday to celebrate Catalonia’s national day, an anniversary that provided a stage for the many Catalans who hope to vote within weeks for the region’s independence from Spain.
The Spanish city’s broad, tree-lined boulevards were a sea of yellow T-shirts that evoked the yellow-and-red striped Catalan flag. Many participants carried the pro-independence flag, known as the “estelada,” which also contains a blue triangle and a white star. The crowd passed a giant banner calling for a secession referendum overhead.
This year’s annual celebration came amid growing excitement and tension over the independence vote planned for Oct. 1. Spain’s constitutional court has suspended the referendum while it considers its legality, but Catalan leaders say they will go ahead with it anyway.
Spain’s national government, based in Madrid, is doing all it can to stop the ballot, which it says is illegal. Catalan independence parties said Monday’s huge turnout in the regional capital — estimated by Barcelona’s municipal police at 1 million — was a show of strength that would add momentum to their cause.
While the standoff between Barcelona and Madrid is creating divisions, the good-humored celebration attended by families produced no signs of conflict.
Among the comparatively wealthy region’s grievances is that because it accounts for a fifth of Spain’s economic output, it pays more in taxes than it receives.
Most Catalans support a vote on independence, but polls show a referendum approved by the central government is preferred to a vote Madrid opposes.