Another resoundingly successful mobilization from the Catalan independence movement. The demonstration for this Monday, the Diada - Catalan National Day - has attracted 800,000 people, according to the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), a figure which translates into an increased turnout compared to last year (when 700,000 attended) and also far exceeds the numbers for 2021 (400,000). The Barcelona Guardia Urbana police, however, affirmed that 115,000 people attended the march, 35,000 fewer than the figure they gave last year. The streets along which the march took place were filled to the brim until they converged on Plaça Espanya, renamed as Plaça 1 d'Octubre for the rally this Monday, after the 1st October independence referendum of 2017. The atmosphere was festive, politically assertive, peaceful and without incident.
This Monday afternoon's mobilization, at which the movement which has dominated Catalonia's politics for the last 11 years once again showed its muscle, began at the symbolic time of 17:14 hours. Four separate columns set off towards the major plaça renamed for the day as Plaça 1st of October (instead of Plaça Espanya) from the Ciutat de Justícia court complex (in the case of the column labelled as Liberty), the Escola Proa (the Language column), the Sants station (that of the Country) and Doctor Letamendi square, location of the Spanish Tax Agency (that of Sovereignty). In addition to the usual pro-independnece organizations (ANC, Òmnium Cultural, Association of Municipalities for Independence, and the Council of the Republic, among others), this year's new development was that the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), the pro-independence party which governs Catalonia, once again took part in the ANC's Diada mobilization, with Catalan president Pere Aragonès present, as well as some ministers such as Laura Vilagrà, Ester Capella and Manel Balcells. The government, which marched in the Language column, was whistled and jeered by some fellow marchers. In addition to ERC - a delegation that was ultimately not led by the party president, Oriol Junqueras, given that he has Covid - the other major pro-independence parties also participated: Together for Catalonia (Junts), whose national leadership marched, and the CUP, with members such as Dolors Sabater in the rally.
Last year, most of the ERC leadership distanced themselves from the protest - with exceptions such as Carme Forcadell, former president of the ANC - because they considered that it was a mobilization that went against the parties and the institutions, an approach that they didn't agree with. This year, they consider that the pressure is on the Spanish government and that is why they have mobilized. All in all, in a post-electoral climate where negotiations are in the air over a possible investiture of Pedro Sánchez, with an amnesty for pro-independence prosecutions set down as an essential pre-condition, a measure that has been claimed in many of the speeches at the end of the march.
Liberty, Language, Country, Sovereignty
This year's demonstration had four columns that, starting from different points of the city, headed to the re-baptised Plaça 1 d'Octuber, where they came together. From 4pm, buses from all over the country arrived at the four departure points of the columns and placards were put on display with slogans such as 'Independence or resignation', 'Government, resign', 'New fire' and 'We have won' as well as the official slogan of "Via Fora!". In addition, there were numerous chants such as 'Puigdemont, our president', 'Neither France nor Spain, Catalan lands' and renditions by the marchers of the Catalan national anthem, Els Segadors, and L'Estaca, the well-known Lluís Llach protest song.
The Liberty column set off from the Ciutat de Justícia, a place that hundreds of people from the pro-independence movement have had to pass through as defendants or persons under investigation. The choice of this starting point was, then, not accidental: the Catalan National Assembly designated the main Barcelona court complex as a symbol of the repression suffered by more than 4,000 people prosecuted, in order to denounce the "rejection of Spanish power and the imposition of its justice" in Catalonia. The route was along the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, and the demonstrators walked the two kilometres along this road to the plaça of their destination. In this Liberty column, organizations such as the legal body Coordinadora de l'Avocacia de Catalunya, the Commission for Dignity and Rights, the neighbourhood group Meridiana Resisteix, as well as the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), who also joined. Visible at the head of the march was ex-deputy speaker of the Catalan Parliament, Josep Costa.
The Language column headed off from La Proa school in La Bordeta neighbourhood, a point chosen for the defence of an education "entirely" in Catalan and against the attacks being suffered by the language. To get to Plaça 1 d'Octubre, they took Carrer Moianes and then the Carretera de Sants. In this column was Catalan president Pere Aragonès and the ministers who attended the rally, in addition to several other ERC leaders.
As for the Country column, the route started from Plaça dels Països Catalans, next to Barcelona-Sants rail station. By choosing this infrastructure as a starting point, the ANC wanted to convey a message on the chronic underfunding by the Spanish state and the lack of investments it makes in Catalonia. To reach the destinations square, the demonstrators walked down Carrer Tarragona. This was column in which ANC president Dolors Feliu marched, as well as her counterpart from Òmnium Cultural, Xavier Antich.
Finally, there was the Sovereignty column, which set out for Plaça 1 d'Octubre from Plaça del Doctor Letamendi, the location of the Spanish Tax Department. The organizers wanted to highlight the "fiscal plunder" that Catalonia has suffered for years and championed the defence of its economic independence. It was in this column that the national executive of Junts marched, on a route that passed through Carrer Muntaner and, finally, along Gran Via. The names given to the four columns, as the ANC explained, respond to the "fundamental values that the Catalan Republic will have", as the locations chosen for the departure of these four are "enclaves of denunciation" and "reclamation of rights and freedoms lost to Spanish colonialism".