30.09.2014 - 21:00
The main pro-indy civil society organisations pushing the independence social movement, Catalan National Assembly and Òmnium Cultural, asked citizens to gather in front of town halls to show opposition to the Constitutional Court’s independence consultation suspension on Monday. Thousands of citizens reponded to the call. In Barcelona, about 5,000 people took to the streets to demand their right to vote, despite heavy rain The organisations have also decided to start tonight the Yes vote campaign. The main Catalan parties also supported the rallies. During the past week, more than 800 municipalities hold full sessions in order to debate and pass a motion in support to the independence consultation in order ‘to freely decide the future of Catalonia’.
Citizen protests have been organised in each of the 947 municipalities in Catalonia, despite the heavy rain in parts of the territory. In Barcelona, for instance, thousands of people carrying umbrellas filled up Sant Jaume Square, where the City Council is located.
Check out pictures from towns and cities protests here:
These grass-roots organisations are not giving up hope of voting on the 9th of November and launched their own campaign to ask citizens to participate and vote for independence. This campaign aims to mobilise up to 100,000 volunteers to carry out a door-to-door survey to visit all the homes in Catalonia.
Catalonia’s self-determination process ‘is not over’
On Monday the Constitutional Court temporarily suspended the Catalan Law on Consultation Votes and the decree calling the 9th of November’s self-determination consultation vote. Such a temporary suspension, which entered into force this Tuesday morning, was approved by the Court on Monday evening in an urgent manner, just 5 hours after the Spanish Government had filed its appeals, which questions the separation of powers. The temporary suspension of the law and the decree does not mean they are illegal, but it is just a cautionary measure whose duration can be as long as it takes the Court to reach a definitive decision on the issue. The Catalan Government and Parliament announced on Tuesday that they will file their allegations against the Court’s decision, asking the Madrid-based body to reconsider its decision. However, the Catalan Government’s Spokesperson, Francesc Homs, stated that Catalonia’s self-determination process “is not over” because of the Constitutional Court’s temporary suspension. In fact, Homs stated on Monday that the Spanish Government and the Constitutional Court could make “the greatest mistake in Spain’s democracy” by not allowing Catalans to vote on the 9th of November, since citizens will vote sooner or later anyway and the opposition from the Spanish establishment feeds pro-independence support.
