National holiday
Tens of thousands attend demonstration for Catalonia’s independence
People wave Estelada flags during a rally in Barcelona. photo
© Kike Rincón/EUROPA PRESS/dpa
The national holiday “Diada” is seen as a measure of the strength of the independence movement. The separatist parties now play a major role as kingmakers in Spanish politics.
Tens of thousands gathered in Catalonia to mark… The national holiday “Diada” called for the independence of the region in northeastern Spain. After a march, demonstrators gathered in the evening on the Plaça d’Espanya in the center of Barcelona, as a reporter from the German Press Agency reported.
They chanted slogans such as “Independence, Freedom.” Catalan regional government leader Pere Aragonès said shortly before the rally that the opportunity presented by the sudden importance of the Catalan parties in forming a new Spanish government should not be missed.
The “Diada”, which always commemorates the loss of self-government in 1714 on September 11th, is considered every year as a yardstick for the strength of the independence movement. This year, the demonstration has been watched with particular attention across Spain, as Catalonia’s separatist parties are suddenly playing a major role as kingmakers in Spanish politics, six years after the fall of 2017’s fall of secession attempt.
The two Catalan separatist parties in the Madrid parliament will decide in the next few weeks whether the acting head of government, Pedro Sánchez, can continue to govern or whether there will have to be a new election.
No majority without the votes of the Catalans
Because without the votes of the Catalans, Sánchez’s Socialists (PSOE) would not have a majority. First, however, opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo from the conservative People’s Party (PP), who received the most votes in the election on July 23rd, has until September 27th to forge a government alliance. However, he is only given slim chances. Sánchez would then have to negotiate with the left-wing nationalist ERC of Aragonès and, above all, with the Junts party of the Belgium-based separatist leader Carles Puigdemont. The Junts, who are less willing to compromise, have so far called for, among other things, an independence referendum, which is considered unacceptable in Spain.