80,000 people defend Catalan institutions at rally against Spain’s use of the courts to halt independence

Barcelona’s Maria Cristina Avenue was overflowing with people this Sunday due to the 80,000 demonstrators who rallied to defend the Catalan institutions from Spain’s legal attacks. The mobilisation was organised by the main pro-independence associations responsible for the massive rallies which have taken to the streets of Catalonia for the last five National Days; the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural, together with the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI). ‘Our cause is democracy and we will never let our elected representatives down’, stated Òmnium Cultural’s President, Jordi Cuixart. Some of  those figures summonsed by Spain’s justice for allowing the pro-independence process to be put to vote and comply with the democratic mandate of the 27-S Catalan Elections include Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, former Catalan President Artur Mas and former Catalan Ministers, Joana Ortega, Francesc Homs and Irene Rigau. However, there are more than 400 towns and villages which have cases pending with the Spanish State for different political reasons.

‘Everyone has to listen to it and nobody should doubt it: we will continue until the end, we will hit the streets whenever and wherever necessary’, stated ANC’s President, Jordi Sànchez who emphasised that the people are the basis of the pro-independence process. ‘We are going to make it, because we believe in democracy and because we will carry out the referendum which the Catalan President and the Parliament have committed to calling’, continued Sànchez during the demonstration’s final speeches. ‘The time of doubt and resignation is over’, he stated.

Òmnium Cultural’s President, Jordi Cuixart addressed the citizens and asked them to be ready ‘for a permanent mobilisation’. ‘This is not about demonstrating on the 11^th of September [Catalonia’s National Day] or for historic occasions; it is not only independence which is at stake, it is also democracy and our future as a nation’, he stated. Cuixart also called for the political parties and elected representatives ‘to be at the height of the historical moment’ and have ‘a sense of state and generosity in order to build the Catalan Republic’.

‘When one is attacked, all of us are attacked’, stated the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI)’s President, Neus Lloveras, who accused the Spanish state of being ‘decadent’ and having ‘very low democratic standards’.

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