Night seven of protests in Barcelona against Spain's repression of Catalan independence aspirations, following the Supreme Court conviction of movement leaders, was unfolding at three main locations by mid-evening, involving thousands of people in total: an early evening protest close to the Spanish government's delegation in Barcelona in the city's central Eixample district; a blockage of the major traffic artery Avinguda Meridiana which began in mid-afternoon and was still continuing at 11pm; and once again, a concentration in Via Laietana outside the Spanish National police station. In general, though, the atmosphere was festive at all three locations.
Spanish state "has become a dump"
The first mobilization announced for Sunday evening was a return to the same location as as on the night when central Barcelona began to burn: the headquarters of the Spanish government in Catalonia, in the Eixample district. Today, the organization calling the actuion was the Picnic for the Republic, with support from the ANC. The protest brought together 2,700 people according to city police and consisted of creating a symbolic rubbish dump.
The organizers explained that the goals were, firstly, for "the world to see the dump which the state has become", and secondly, by returning to the location where unrest began last week, to show that "Catalans are non-violent people." In this regard, the organizers warned protesters not to fall into provocations from the National Police.
The action was called for 6pm and minutes before, the arrival of full rubbish bags began - even if many of them were actually full of paper, as suggested. Some residents of surrounding streets made their own contributions of real trash. More than a thousand people responded to the call and even had to queue to toss their trash into the "state" dump. Once more, in search of an image that speaks for itself.
The means of calling the protest were the usual ones these days, social media and the Telegram messaging system. "All picnics generate waste and what better place to leave it than the dump on the corner of Mallorca and Llúria?", said the message circulating from mid-morning.
And by Telegram, the instructions continued to arrive until the Catalan anthem Els Segadors was sung after a minute of silence with all mobiles lit up. At that time, the protest was officially call to an end, but many protesters decided to continue there.