Despite Spain consistently blocking attempts to hold a referendum on secession, people of country’s richest and most highly industrialised region Catalonia have turned out on a day of rallies to break with Spain.
Some 800,000 people participated in rallies in Barcelona and other towns. But numbers were down sharply compared with last year’s event, when 1.4 million rallied in Barcelona alone, reports BBC.
Meanwhile Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont had urged support for converting Catalonia into an independent state.
Puigdemont, who took power in January, faces a confidence vote on 28 September. He advocates a negotiated withdrawal from Spain.
Divisions have also emerged between the separatist movement’s main political grouping in the Catalan parliament, the Together for Yes coalition, and its radical leftwing ally, the CUP.
When Catalan nationalists held an unofficial referendum on independence in November 2014, 80% of those who voted backed independence.
Sunday is the “Diada”, Catalonia’s national day. It commemorates the moment in 1714 when Barcelona fell to troops loyal to Spain's King Philip V during the War of the Spanish Succession.
“We have to move towards the final outcome,” 58-year-old office clerk Xavier Borras, who planned to attend the rally in Barcelona with a friend. “We can't wait any longer.”
Spain’s leading parties, deadlocked in their efforts to form a new government after two inconclusive general elections since December, have shown little sympathy for Catalan grievances. The region of 7.5 million people makes up 16% of Spain's population and accounts for almost 19% of national GDP.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
