‘Human wall’ in Barcelona
Up to half a million people turn out on the streets of the Catalan capital calling for self-determination and the release of political leaders on trial in the Supreme Court
A human wall, as prosecutor Javier Zaragoza likes to say in the ongoing trial of Catalan and political leaders, once again filled the streets of Barcelona, specifically on the Gran Via avenue between the Espanya and Universitat squares, demanding the right to self-determination and protesting the “farce” of a trial that is taking place in the Supreme Court in Madrid.
The Òmnium Cultural and Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) organisations, which organised the protest along with pro-independence political parties and other groups, claim that between 5pm, when the protest began, until 7pm, some 500,000 people turned out to voice their condemnation of the trial, while the Barcelona police put the figure at 200,000.
Whatever the final number of participants, what is clear is that Catalan society has maintained its capacity, since 2010 with the Statute of Autonomy protests, to mobilise large numbers of people. Coming from all over the country, the trial and the announcement of an early general election by the Pedro Sánchez government have re-energised the independence movement. Yet, while the official slogan for the protest was “Self-determination is not a crime”, perhaps the phrase heard most during the demonstration was “Free the political prisoners”.
The vice president of Òmnium, Marcel Mauri, was the first to speak on the platform erected in Universitat square, thanking the protesters for coming with the words “we knew you wouldn’t let us down” and warning the prosecutor that “yes, we are a wall of dissidents full of dignity and self-esteem, the same as our political prisoners.”