11th September every year is the Diada, Catalonia's national day. With less than twenty-four hours to go to the day's main pro-independence demonstration, organisers at the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) have announced that 400,000 people have already signed-up, with many more expected to attend on the day. All the sections of the route are already almost or completely full (red and dark orange respectively in the map below), marking a sharp acceleration in registrations as the day approaches.
Twelve of the rally's sections are already completely full, the majority of which are next to plaça d'Espanya, the demonstration's focal point, symbolising its call for the independence movement to come together and unify around its common cause. In theory, those coming from different counties are assigned to different sections; the majority of those filled correspond to the counties immediately neighbouring Barcelona and others towards the north. Another one is section three, for northern Catalonia, ceded to France by Spain in the 17th century, and Catalans who live abroad.
The first four sections only filled on Saturday, and there were fewer than ten almost full. This came after a slow start to registrations this year, leading many public figures to make a push to promote attendance. Now, no section of the "shooting star" shows on the map as less than "almost full".
Moreover, according to the ANC's president, Elisenda Paluzie, they have already sold more than 250,000 t-shirts and booked 1,200 coaches for the day.