Catalonia's CDR activist groups (Committees for the Defence of the Republic) have called protest rallies for the Diada, Catalonia's national day, celebrated on 11th September. On Twitter, the pro-independence action groups have announced that "On September 11th we'll take to the streets." And they assert that they will be protesting in order to "remind [Spain's] Regime of 1978 that we remain determined to achieve independence and to demand that the [Catalan] government stop the repression against independence and return to the path of disobedience." With the mottos 'Let's sentence them' and 'Power to the people', for the moment just the CDR groups in the Barcelona area have announced their intention to protest on the street. Their demonstration is scheduled for 7.30 pm on the Diada, at Barcelona's Arc de Triomf.
El pròxim #11s2020 sortirem al carrer:
— CDR_Barcelonès #RevoltaPopular 🔥 (@CDR_Barcelones) September 1, 2020
👉🏻Per recordar al Règim del 78 que seguim determinats a assolir la independència.
👉🏻Per exigir al @govern que aturi la repressió contra l’independentisme i retorni al camí de la desobediència.#Sentenciemlos#ElPoderdelPoble pic.twitter.com/1YEsakIALi
Also via social media, the CDRs of other city neighbourhoods - Sant Antoni, Sant Andreu, Hostafrancs, Nou Barris, Sant Gervasi de Cassoles, Bon Pastor, Marina and Les Corts - along with groups in Gavà, south of the city, and Gasteiz, in the Basque Country, have also joined in. In the announcement, they do not specify whether they will ask for authorization from the Catalan government or its authorities.
As for the implications of these plans for the health emergency, Catalonia's Civil Protection unit has confirmed to ElNacional.cat that, at the moment, they have no knowledge of the planned CDR activities. Rallies and demonstrations in public places currently require authorization through the Procicat civil protection committee. In the current pandemic situation, the conditions for such events are set through the health and interior ministries of the Catalan government.
In parallel, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), co-organizer of the massive pro-independence Diada rallies held for the last eight years, has advised that its own planned rallies will be subject to prior registration, and will not exceed 300 people in number. The use of chairs and distance marking on the ground will also be used to ensure public health safety. ANC president Elisenda Paluzie says that they are working to support freedom of expression but also the safety of the public. And she called on Catalans to make protests on their balconies at the symbolic time of 17:14h.
Different CDR groups have held socially-distanced protests during the period of the pandemic. The last CDR action was on August 9th, coinciding with the publicity tour of Spain undertaken by the monarchs Felipe VI and Letizia. About 300 people took part in a rally in Girona, where a manifesto was read and some attendees burned photographs of Felipe VI and his father Juan Carlos I.
As well, tomorrow and Thursday a protest has been called outside the Girona law courts to support the 197 people investigated for the three-death motorway blockage organized by the Tsunami Democràtic group last November in protest at the jailing of pro-independence leaders for sedition.
