Catalan independence supporters on Wednesday marked ‘La Diada’ – the National Day of Catalonia – but with the pro-independence parties deeply divided and out of office in the region for the first time in over a decade, there were also far fewer participants in the rallies than previous years.
The annual 11 September 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. Over one million people packed the streets of Barcelona in a massive rally during the holiday in 2017, at the height of Catalonia’s failed independence push, but attendance has waned in recent years as support for secession has decreased.
As has been the case in recent years, this time the pro-independence groups held their own separate demonstrations in different parts of Barcelona and other Catalan cities in the afternoon — a sign of the divisions hampering the movement.
In Barcelona, the biggest rally was attended by just 60,000 people, followed by Girona with 6,500 attendees, Lleida with 3,000, Tarragona with 2,800 and Tortosa with 1,200, according to the local police forces of each city.
This year’s turnout was the lowest since these mass demonstrations began in 2012, excluding 2020, which was attended only by 59,000 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year’s ‘Diada’ also came just a month after Salvador Illa, a former national health minister in Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government, was sworn in as the head of the regional government of Catalonia following a May regional election that saw pro-independence parties lose their majority in the regional parliament. ALSO READ: New Catalan government sworn in, ending a decade of pro-independence rule.
It is the first time since 2010 that Catalonia has a government that does not come from the pro-independence camp. ALSO READ: Catalan pro-independence parties lose majority, as PSC socialists win elections.
‘The Diada is a day to reflect on who we are and where we want to go. A day to reaffirm our will to be and to live together,’ Illa wrote on X (Twitter), adding the holiday ‘belongs to all Catalans’.
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