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Catalan President again vows to call referendum next year after 1.6 million human chain for independence

Demonstrators join hands across more than 400 kilometres · Spanish Government insists any vote on Catalan statehood would be illegal · Five injured as Spanish far right group storms Catalan Government delegation in Madrid

A massive demonstration filled yesterday several roads of Catalonia in a popular human chain asking for independence from Spain. According to police sources, some 1.6 million people joined hands from Catalonia's north to south across more than 400 kilometres in what had been called the Catalan Way for Independence. The demonstration drew inspiration from the 1989 Baltic Way and had been called by Catalonia's main pro-independence civil society association, the Catalan National Assembly (Assemblea Nacional Catalana, ANC).

Catalan President Artur Mas admitted at night that the human chain had been an enormous success. Mas vowed again to call a referendum on Catalan statehood in 2014: "It is high time Spanish authorities listen the voice of Catalonia and respect its will to decide its future as a country and as a nation", he said.

But the Spanish Government continues to insist that such a vote is illegal under Spanish laws. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo said on Tuesday that a referendum will never be agreed and that Catalonia could only secede from Spain through a unilateral declaration of independence. Still, he offered to change the relationship between Catalonia and Spain in areas such as taxes, language, infrastructures and culture.

Catalonia held a snap election in 2012. One of the main reasons for bringing the elections forward was to know if Catalans supported the idea of a referendum on statehood. Pro-referendum parties won a clear majority of votes (73%) and seats (107 out of 135). Subsequently, the two largest parties in Parliament (centre-right Convergence and Union and centre-left Republican Left of Catalonia) signed a deal by which a referendum would be called in 2014.

Far right activists storm Catalan delegation in Madrid, five injured

And shortly after 1,6 million Catalans showed their will for independence, a Spanish far right group stormed the building of the Catalan Government delegation in Madrid where MPs, other citizens and guests were celebration the National Day of Catalonia. The far right members chanted "Make no mistake, Catalonia is Spain", and carried Nazi and Fascist flags. They broke furniture and attacked the people there. Five people were injured, including a 4-year-old child.

Six people have been arrested after the assault.

Several thousands for the unity of the Catalan Countries

Several thousands extended the human chain from El Pertús (northernmost tip of the chain) northwards and from Alcanar (southernmost tip) southwards in order to show that both Northern Catalonia (in France) and the Valencian Country are also supporting the independence demand in Catalonia and that all these territories constitute one single nation, namely the Catalan Countries. The same happened through other human chains in the Balearic Islands.

(Image: a section of the human chain in Catalonia's capital city Barcelona / Picture by ANC.)

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