Thousands Rally in Barcelona Against Catalan Independence High turnout represents rare show of strength for pro-union movement By Jeannette Neumann and Giovanni Legorano See note please
https://www.wsj.com/articles/thousands-rally-in-barcelona-against-catalan-independence-1507463271
WHAT IS VARGAS LLOSA DOING IN CATALONIA OPPOSING INDEPENDENCE? HE IS A PERUVIAN WRITER WHO UNSUCCESSFULLY RAN FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF HIS COUNTRY…..HE LOBBIES AND WRITES ANTI=ISRAEL SCREED FOR PALARAB INDEPENDENCE…WHY NOT CATALONIA? AS FOR HIS NOBEL PRIZE READ HIS MEDIOCRE NOVELS…..RSK
BARCELONA—Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards gathered in Barcelona on Sunday to decry Catalonia’s secessionist push, a bid by pro-union groups to build momentum against a unilateral declaration of independence that could come as soon as this week.
The demonstration in central Barcelona, the capital of Spain’s Catalonia region, is a rare show of strength for the pro-union movement, whose gatherings have typically attracted several thousand protesters in recent years, compared with the hundreds of thousands routinely mobilized by pro-independence groups.
On Sunday, though, Barcelona’s streets were filled with an atypical sight: people waving red-and-yellow Spanish flags, unfurled alongside Catalan regional flags.
“For some time now, nationalism has been wreaking havoc in Catalonia and that’s why we’re here, to stop it,” Nobel Literature Prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa told the 930,000 people gathered, according to organizers. Local police in Barcelona put that figure at closer to 350,000. Such discrepancies are common.
“We are fed up with this situation. We haven’t been out on the street until now, but this time around has been so surreal, so unfair, that we had to do something,” Juan Maldonado, a 52-year-old electrician from Barcelona said, as people chanted “here are the other Catalans.”
Polls by the region’s survey agency indicate that more than a third of Catalans support an independent Catalonia, although sentiment could have shifted following the Oct. 1 independence referendum, which was marred by clashes between police and voters and declared illegal by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont is expected to address Catalonia’s regional parliament on Tuesday and could make a declaration of independence.
“We will prevent independence from materializing,” Mr. Rajoy said in an interview published Sunday by top Spanish daily El País. “I can say with absolute frankness that it won’t happen.” He said he didn’t rule out invoking constitutional powers that would allow him to seize control of the regional Catalan government. CONTINUE AT SITE
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