BARCELONA: Thou­sa­nds of Catalan separatists rallied on Monday to demand their region break away from Spain, in a show of strength three weeks ahead of an independence referendum banned by Madrid.

Draped in red, yellow and blue separatist flags — with one banner reading “Goodbye Spain” — they marched through central Barcelona in what many hope will be the last protest before independence.

“If there is huge mobilisation, they can’t do anything in Madrid,” says Jordi Cala­tayud, a 21-year-old economics student of the Oct 1 vote.

“Catalan people will make independence possible, if there are a lot of us, they can’t stop us.” Some 400,000 people had signed up to join the demonstration in Barcelona, part of an escalating struggle between the wealthy northeastern province and Spain’s central government.

The protest coincides with Catalonia’s national day, the “Diada”, which marks the fall of Barcelona in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714 and the region’s subsequent loss of institutions and freedoms.

Since 2012 the holiday has been used by separatists to press for an independent state. “There are 20 days left (until the referendum) and the mobilisation that prompted this process remains intact,” Catalonia’s pro-independence president Carles Puigdemont told reporters.

Those against independence complained that a day meant for all Catalans had been hijacked by the separatists — and even more so this year ahead of the referendum. “The theme of today’s protest is ‘Diada of the Yes’,” Ines Arrimadas, the leader in Catalonia of the anti-independence Ciudadanos party, said on Spanish television.

“That means that those of us who aren’t in favour of independence cannot participate,” she added.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2017