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After the imprisonment of their presidents yesterday, pro-independence organisations ANC (Catalan National Assembly) and Òmnium Cultural have made a call to "continue" and, if necessary, "redouble" the demonstrations. "However they imprison our presidents, there will be people to substitute for them", said Agustí Alcoberro, vice-president of ANC, who also said that Sànchez and Cuixart "are political prisoners of the kingdom of Spain". He noted that both entities have thousands of members and have proved themselves capable of mobilising hundreds of thousands of people.

Marcel Mauri, Òmnium's spokesperson, had a similar message. He spoke of the need to enter into a new phase of mobilisations, that "will be, as always, peaceful and democratic". As well as this Tuesday's rally with candles in Barcelona, there will be another in the Catalan capital at 5pm on Saturday. In the next few days, Mauri said, they will announce "new actions and mobilisations" and will give more details. The objective is that "the [Spanish] state reacts and the international community sees that there's a democratic deficit that forces us to mobilise".

The detentions, Marcel Mauri said, "place the Spanish state on the level of countries which do not enjoy a full democracy". He called on the spirit of the Diades, the celebrations of Catalonia's national day on 11th September each year, which have seen huge, peaceful protests, to make a demonstration of civility and pacifism. "We believed that, in the absence of violence, everything could be talked about, but the Spanish state has shown that no, [you can't]," he said.

The new, accidental leaders of the two organisations have been able to speak with Sànchez and Cuixart's lawyers, who have said they are "strong, calm and convinced they haven't committed any crime". Alcobero signalled that there will be no change in the organisational structures: they will remain the presidents. However, they've prepared the "necessary mechanisms" in case the situation "stretches on for a number of months".