21.09.2017 - 18:23
Around 20,000 thousand demonstrators take the Barcelona streets yet again. Thousands gathered outside the department of Economy in a spontaneous rally yesterday in order to reject the anti-referendum police operation. It lasted almost 24 hours, and with almost no rest, some protesters started a new demonstration this Thursday at noon.
The aim of this new rally is not only to refuse the raids again, but also to demand the release of the dozen high-ranking Catalan officials still being held. The Catalan Parliament president took part in the event and chanted “we are not afraid” to the crowd, who repeated the chant. “It does not bite, it is a ballot box,” the demonstrators also chanted. The Catalan secretary of Economy also joined the event.
Some major pro-independence organizations hosted the rally, including the Catalan National Assembly (ANC in Catalan). Its president, Jordi Sànchez, said that “there is no democrat in Catalonia who is not embarrassed about what judges and Spain’s Guardia Civil did yesterday”. He also said that after “the despicable performance of the Spanish State against the Catalan government yesterday, they crossed all the acceptable lines, nothing will be the same from yesterday”. The president of another host organization, Òmnium Cultural, said that the people being held “are not criminals”, but “heroes.”
