Meanwhile, In Barcelona

at

Barcelona, Spain this morning

This morning.

Barcelona, Spain.

Via Reuters:

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators waving pro-independence flags and chanting “freedom for political prisoners” joined marches across Catalonia on Friday, the fifth day of protests against the jailing of nine separatist leaders over a failed bid to break away from Spain in 2017.

Friday’s marchers, ranging from families pushing prams to cyclists wheeling their bicycles, took over a highway lane and other major roads as they walked peacefully towards the Catalan capital, many sporting yellow ribbons – a sign of protest against the jailing of Catalan independence leaders.

Major roads were blocked off across Catalonia and several main streets in Barcelona were closed to traffic in anticipation of the marches, as well as picket lines that had begun springing up, while regional trains and the city’s metro were running on a reduced timetable after pro-independence unions called a strike…

More as we get it.

Thousands converge on Barcelona for fifth day of Catalan protests (Reuters)

El Clasico: Barcelona v Real Madrid postponed because of fears over civil unrest (BBC)

This week: ‘Sedicion’

Pic: Reuters

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23 thoughts on “Meanwhile, In Barcelona

  1. GobDaw

    I (naively) expect this call for an independance referendum will get as much coverage as pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

      1. Ian-O

        I don’t really have an opinion on this issue due to not being in possession of all the facts, but human rights abuses alone would not, in my opinion, be the only reason to want independence?

        Pretty sure the Scots are not having their rights abused?

        1. Christopher

          I speaking about the false equivalence of the arguement- the people of Hong Kong were content to live as part of China for the last 20 years as they were given special rights not afforded to other people of China- now these rights are being taken away from them so it’s right that the world is appauled. Nothing has changed for the Catalans since Francos time!

  2. MountainTalk

    I always found the thing with that part of Spain as mildly racist. Ok, you have your own language, great. You have maybe a different salad dressing, nice. You have your own particular little culture in that corner, great. But independence??? independence from what? That’s next, breathing your own air. Your a city with a bit of a suburb. That’s it. Hey, maybe Cork City wants to break away. It’s a little different down there.

    1. Amy

      It’s more than that. The Catalans don’t think of themselves as Spanish. In the same way the Irish didn’t think of themselves as a natural constituent of the British Empire. It’s not a case of minor differences, it’s a case that the Catalans and the Spanish are as different as the Irish and the English. The Basques don’t consider themselves Spanish and never have. Spain’s a State made up of different nations, it’s not a natural country. It’s like Yugoslavia.

      1. MountainTalk

        All countries are initially little atomized cultural states. Next to the arrival of the car. Travel. Integration. Merging Languages, customs, religions, foods. Now the internet. A whole new level of integration. But….. I found w/ the ppl I met from there, they have a mild old-school inherent racism. They state their Catalan in a certain way. With a feeling. Not to be mistaken almost as darker, poorer, uneducated. Kinda of Italian north-south thing. Feelings probably left over from Moorish times. Why not celebrate the little cultural difference. Why the separation????. FEAR You can have a few different identities. My ex-girlfriend is Jewish, Israeli and American. All at the same time. No problem.

          1. MountainTalk

            w/ respect it’s not the same situation. This is regional and I suspect latent racism. Should Algeria rejoin France!

          2. Amy

            It’s not regional, only Spanish Unionists think of Catalonia as a region. Just as they think of the Basque Country as regional. Just as the British used to think of Ireland as a region. There’s no Catalan ‘race’, so racism here isn’t an issue. In fact the Catalan movement for a Republic specifically states that any one who considers Catalonia their home is Catalan.

    2. BobbyJ

      Catalonia is much more than “a city with a bit of a suburb”. It has a population of 7.5 million people, if it was an independent state and joined the EU it would be the 16th most populated state out of 29.

  3. Ben Redmond

    Scotland, Wales, Catalonia, Occitanie, Languedoc, Brittany, Gaeltacht Iarchonnacht, Gaeltacht Gaoith Dobhair, Sicilia, Kosovo, Vlaanderen, the Faroes, Donegal…
    The list of ethno-linguistic places around Europe is interesting if not complete. Russia too has its ethnic tensions and Russia is very European apart from its vast stretches of far East Asia. An EU one-size-fits-all model of Europe does not fit the bill. In Brussels some time ago ‘subsidiarity’ and ‘lEurope des regions’ were words buzzing about, but the decision makers settled for 27 centralised states making big decisions centralised in the Berlaymont. Regionalist and ethno-identitarian may smoulder but won’t go away, however.

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