The Catalan independence movement's unitary demonstration on the National Day, the Diada of September 11th, has attracted 700,000 people, according to organizing group the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), a figure that the Barcelona city police reduced to 150,000 attendees. The march filled Barcelona's Avinguda Paral·lel while large numbers of demonstrators also joined the demonstration as it made its way to the Estació de França. The build-up to the demonstration was marked by the offensive against it by the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), in a letter to party members, and by the absence of the president of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, an ERC politician. Even so, the former president of the ANC and ex-speaker of parliament, Carme Forcadell, was present - the only major ERC figure who took part. The other pro-independence political parties Together for Catalonia (Junts) and the Popular Unity Candidature (CUP) were fully represented, along with major pro-independence groups Òmnium Cultural and the Association of Pro-Independence Municipalities.
This year's march, despite the disagreements between the pro-independence parties, surpassed last year's demonstration, which was the first after the pandemic. In last year's demonstration in Via Laietana, 400,000 people took part, according to the ANC, 108,000 according to the Barcelona police.
The president of the ANC, Dolors Feliu, made a forceful speech at the end of the demonstration, with severe criticisms of the so-called dialogue table with the Spanish government. "They are trying to stop us from protesting, trying to reduce our numbers and make it look like there aren't so many of us. They will not silence us, we want independence. We have a Spanish state that reminds us every day why we want to be independent. False dialogue does not deceive anyone. We heard the Spanish prime minister boasting about his participation in the enactment of Article 155 [taking direct rule of Catalonia from Madrid]. Spanish justice also shows us every day how it violates our rights. Almost 5,000 Catalan are victims of state repression," she stated.