'Occitan lenga oficiala' (Occitan, official language), 'Libertat per la lenga, per el pais!' (Freedom for the language and the country) and 'L'occitan a l'escola' (Occitan in schools) have been some of the most common slogans in the rally in favour of Occitan, which was attended by thousands of people -20,000, 14,000 and 25,000 according to the organizers, the police and several media- in Carcassone.

The association Anem Òc!, made up of a number of organizations committed to the protection of the Occitan language such as the Institute of Occitan Studies (IEO), Felibrige, FELCO, Calandreta (Occitan medium schools) and Óc-Bi (Students Parents' Association for a bilingual public education), made the call for the demonstration, which focused on 4 aspects: media -the creation of public radio and TV in Occitan and funding of private initiatives-, culture -support for cultural products in Occitan-, education -language immersion or bilingualism on equal terms-, and public life -presence of the language in public spaces, place names and social life.

Demonstrators reminded that the Constitution was amended in July 2008 to include a reference to the so-called "regional languages" in France -Article 75.1 now establishes that "regional languages are part of France's heritage-, and that the Government has not taken any steps to protect them yet. The president of IEO, David Grosclaude, said that they are "very upset by promises which seem to be trivial for those who made them".

The demonstration was attended by leading elected politicians like Jean-Claude Pérez, mayor of Carcassonne, José Bové, the Greens' member of the European Parliament and Joan Thomàs, from Partit Occitan. The president of the Aran Valley, Francés Boya, Gerard Onesta, former vicepresident of the European Parliament and several mayors of the Occitan valleys of the Piedmont region were also present.

Further information:

• L'Indépendant: La grande marche occitane
• Sudouest.com: Les Occitans en veulent plus
• AFP: Des milliers de manifestants à Carcassonne pour la défense de l'occitan
• LaDepeche.fr: "Nicolau", entends-tu la voix du peuple occitan?
• Videos of the demonstration at VilaWeb and 3cat24, pictures at L'Indépendant.
• MónDivers: Els occitans reivindiquen la llengua després de la reforma constitucional

See the Occitania profile and dossier Peoples and nations today: Occitania for further information.