Catalonia Marks Holiday With Separatist Movement Waning

Barcelona, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Sep, 2024) Tens of thousands of flag-waving supporters of Catalan independence rallied in Barcelona on the Spanish region's commemorative day, with separatists deeply divided and out of office in Catalonia for the first time in over a decade.

The annual September 11 "Diada" holiday commemorates the fall of Barcelona, the Catalan capital, to Spain in 1714.

It has in the past seen massive rallies in favour of independence for the wealthy northeastern region, which has its own distinct language.

More than one million people packed the streets of Barcelona in a massive rally during the holiday in 2017, at the height of Catalonia's failed separatist push, but attendance has waned in recent years as support for secession has decreased.

Some 60,000 people took part in the largest rally held in Barcelona, according to the city's municipal police force.

"When things are going well everyone joins in, and when things are not going so well people are easily disillusioned, but I think the important thing is that we persevere," Monica Rivell, a 56-year-old doctor who came from the town of Granollers for the rally, told AFP.

Marchers carried red, yellow and blue Catalan separatist flags and chanted slogans demanding Catalonia's secession from Spain.

"Without unity we will not achieve anything," said 79-year-old pensioner Ramon Corominas, who waved a Catalan separatist flag.

"The last thing we lose is hope... we have to go all the way," he told AFP.