Hundreds of thousands of Catalans came out to March for independence from Spain
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Barcelona on the national day of Catalonia, to support the separation of this province from Spain. After three weeks, the Catalans have a referendum, which Madrid is trying to prevent.
The city streets were filled with people with flags-Escalade. Red-yellow Escalada is the unofficial flag of the Catalan lands and the symbol of the struggle for the independence of the province.
The referendum on independence in Catalonia, which the Spanish government has previously declared illegal, to be held three weeks later, on 1 October. The Parliament of the province, which is dominated by Pro-independence party, adopted the law on secession from Spain, if the Catalans will vote for it.
Judging by recent polls, the views of residents of Catalonia on the separation is almost evenly divided.
Catalonia is one of the richest regions of Spain. In the Kingdom, the province has the status of an Autonomous community. In Catalonia has its own police and its own official language, which is used interchangeably with the Spanish.
However, the region is widely believed that too much of his income goes to Madrid in taxes.
The economic problems of Spain after the global crisis of 2008 — primarily unemployment led to a rise in Catalonia, separatist sentiment.
Estimates of the number of participants in the Tuesday processions vary: organizers say that on the streets over a million people, but officials from the Spanish government several times below. To bring people to Barcelona from other Catalan cities was leased almost 2000 buses.