Thousands of people are participating this Friday in the Diada Barcelona in the demonstration called by the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) in favor of independence. Under the slogan Hi soc, hi som, pel present i pel futur, independència (‘I am here, we are here, for the present and for the future, independence’), the march started at the symbolic time of 17:14 from the Cathedral square, preceded by a dozen tractors, and from Casanova street with Gran Vía to end at Catalunya square, where the stage is located for the closing speeches. Girona and Amposta (Tarragona) also host demonstrations.
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All pro-independence parties participate in the march, which this year has been marked by the fracture of the movement aggravated by the rise of the far right embodied in Aliança Catalana. The prelude to the day was marked by tension at the event led by Sílvia Orriols’ party and antifascist demonstrators at the Fossar de les Moreres. The Mossos d’Esquadra carried out charges against the activists. The president Salvador Illa called to preserve the unity of Catalonia and confront the far right. Jordi Turull, secretary general of Junts, blamed Illa for fostering polarization.
Oriol Junqueras, president of ERC, has returned to a demonstration after several years of not attending following being booed. The ERC leadership marched behind the banner with the slogan Per la independència. Sempre hi som. Junqueras’ presence this time was met with indifference, except for a couple of people who addressed him. One of them shouted at him: “Traitor. Where is the fiscal pact?”. “A country is built by adding and not dividing. We need a majority to achieve an independent republic,” he stated.
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Independence supporters trust that this edition will gather greater participation compared to 2025 when the Guardia Urbana estimated attendance at 28,000 people, the lowest since the beginning of the procés. Josep Vila, president of the ANC, who succeeded Lluís Llach in the position, has defended the need to continue with the goal in the face of the collapse that, in his opinion, Catalonia is experiencing in public services in education or transport due to “fiscal plundering.”
Vila claimed this morning, on Ràdio 4, to focus the Diada on the demonstration and not on the confrontation experienced this Thursday in the Born between members of Aliança and antifascist entities. Xavier Antic, president of Òmnium Cultural, raised, at an event of the entity at the Arc de Triomf, the flag of Catalunya un sol poble and called for a broad and common democratic front to fight the “monsters” and other abominable political forces in reference to the far right.
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