Puigdemont attends small protest in Brussels on Catalan referendum anniversary

Record ID: 1434572

  • Title: Puigdemont attends small protest in Brussels on Catalan referendum anniversary
  • Date: 1st October 2019
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (OCTOBER 1, 2019) (REUTERS) FORMER CATALAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT MINISTERS TONI COMIN AND CLARA PONSATI, FORMER CATALAN LEADER CARLES PUIGDEMONT AND FORMER CATALAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT MINISTER MERITXELL SERRET HOLDING BANNER WITH OTHER PROTESTER THAT READS (English): "Do not steal our votes" COMIN, PONSATI, PUIGDEMONT AND SERRET DURING PROTEST GROUP OF PROTESTERS OUTSIDE EU PARLIAMENT BUILDING PROTESTERS TALKING PROTESTER HOLDING FLAG READING (Catalan): "Catalan Republic, October 1st" PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER PROTESTER WRAPPED UP IN A CATALAN FLAG PONSATI, PUIGDEMONT AND SERRET HOLDING BANNER MAN HOLDING MICROPHONE, SPEAKING TO PUIGDEMONT
  • Embargoed: 15th October 2019 16:04
  • Keywords: anniversary Members of the European Parliament referendum Catalonia MEP European Parliament Brussels Carles Puigdemont protest
  • Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • City: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001AZ9OKSN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont joined a small protest outside the EU Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday (October 1) on the second anniversary of a banned independence referendum.
    The protest was organised as part of the "Do not steal our votes" campaign that was launched after Puigdemont and two other Catalan former leaders were elected as members of the European Parliament but were not able to obtain their credentials in Madrid.
    In 2017, Catalan leaders defied courts and conducted a referendum on secession and then declared independence. That confrontation saw police wielding batons at crowds seeking to vote and prompted the then-conservative government to temporarily impose direct rule from Madrid on the region.
    The failed independence bid triggered Spain's biggest political crisis in decades and while the crisis has been on the backburner recently, it still is a major factor in national politics. Many Spaniards reject Catalan separatism and judge their political parties accordingly.
    (Production Bart Biesemans, Hortense de Roffignac)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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