Next Monday’s demonstration for the National Day of Catalonia (Diada) in Barcelona, linked to the region’s demand for independence, was attended by around 115,000 people, the smallest mobilization in more than a decade, according to data from the municipal police.
The 2022 Diada demonstration had 150,000 participants and, according to the Barcelona Municipal Guard, this was already the smallest mobilization in ten years (except for the pandemic).
The Catalan National Assembly, the civil society entity promoting the Diada demonstrations, estimated 800,000 participants in this Monday’s demonstration, 100,000 more than the number estimated in 2022.
This Monday, Catalans will celebrate Catalonia Day in the streets, a journey to demand independence for decades, but which has lost its mobilization power in recent years, after the failed attempt at self-determination in 2017.
Between 2012 and 2018, the Diada demonstrations mobilized hundreds of thousands of people and in some years participation exceeded one million, according to various sources.
This year, Diada coincides with the formation of Spain’s new government, following the July 23 elections, which gave a decisive role to the Catalan and Basque independence parties, as the reappointment of socialist Pedro Sánchez as prime minister depends on them.
Despite the protagonism of the independence parties, all these formations lost votes and deputies, in favor of the Socialists, who even won the July 23 elections in Catalonia.
The two major Catalan independence parties, Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (JxCat), which each elected seven deputies in the Spanish elections, have already expressed their willingness to negotiate the reappointment of Pedro Sánchez as prime minister.
ERC and JxCat are calling for amnesty for independents accused and convicted by the courts over the 2017 attempt at self-determination and want the possibility of a referendum on independence to be part of the agreements ultimately reached with the Socialists.
During the last Spanish term, the ERC already made Sánchez’s government viable and negotiated with the Socialists to pardon the imprisoned independentists and to eliminate the crime of sedition from the Criminal Code.
JxCat voted against Sánchez’s investiture and condemned the dialogue between the ERC regional executive and the central government.
Last Monday, on Catalan National Day, the Catalan National Assembly asked both parties to remember that the goal is the independence of the region and not to allow Sánchez to come to power as Prime Minister or “provide stability to the state.” to give”.
In this year’s Diada manifesto, the Catalan National Assembly even admits that it will present its own ‘citizens’ list’ at the next regional elections, scheduled for 2024, if the ERC and JxCat do not work with the aim of ‘making independence effective ‘.
“Independence or nothing! Independence or elections”said ANC President Dolors Feliu at the end of this Monday’s demonstration.
Both ERC and JxCat leaders were present at this year’s demonstration, after the failure of the regional government’s president, Pere Aragonès, of the Republican Left, to participate in 2022, at the height of disagreements with Together for Catalonia and criticism from the Catalan National Assembly.
A year later, despite exchanging some accusations, Catalan independence activists took to the streets again on Monday, as had happened in the previous decade.
Source: DN
