SPAIN-CATALONIA-PRO VOTE DEMO Catalonia suspends formal campaign on Spain independence vote
Record ID:
328341
SPAIN-CATALONIA-PRO VOTE DEMO Catalonia suspends formal campaign on Spain independence vote
- Title: SPAIN-CATALONIA-PRO VOTE DEMO Catalonia suspends formal campaign on Spain independence vote
- Date: 30th September 2014
- Summary: CROWD CLAPPING WOMAN CHANTING "WE WANT TO VOTE" SEPARATIST ESQUERRA REPUBLICANA (ERC) LEADER ORIOL JUNQUERAS TALKING WITH ERC LAWMAKER MARTA ROVIRA AMID CROWD / CROWD CHANTING "WE WANT TO VOTE" CLOSE UP OF JUNQUERAS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ESQUERRRA REPUBLICANA LAWMAKER, ALFRED BOSCH, SAYING: "We are going to rally the people, we are going to deliver to the people. We promised there will be a vote so our obligation is to celebrate the vote. Let it rain, let it snow, let it hail. We will vote about our own freedom." WOMAN IN CROWD CHANTING "YES, YES, YES, WE WILL VOTE" BALLOT BOX BANNER AMID CROWD (SOUNDBITE) (Catalan) BARCELONA RESIDENT, ISABEL REDONDO, SAYING: "We just want to vote. 'Yes' or 'No'. To know how many people are in favour and how many against. And Spaniards don't understand that. And we want them to understand once and for all." (SOUNDBITE) (Catalan) BARCELONA RESIDENT, JOSEP COLOMER, SAYING: "There is big political and social consensus. Society is very mobilised. Now it is time to take a decision all together, but we are sure we will vote and we will win." CROWD AT BARCELONA CITY HALL
- Embargoed: 15th October 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Spain
- Country: Spain
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA33K7EQA6DYEH492Y3138NBDRB
- Story Text: With a big banner that spelled out "We will be free", hundreds of people gathered in front of Barcelona's city hall on Tuesday (September 30) to protest against Spain's Constitutional Court suspension on Monday (September 29) to an independence referendum called by Catalonia for November 09.
Standing in heavy rain, protesters and some Catalan politicians called for the right to vote on a potential split from Spain in most city halls in the region.
Catalonia's regional government said earlier on Tuesday it would temporarily suspend formal campaigning for a referendum on independence from Spain, after Madrid filed a legal appeal to stop the vote taking place.
Madrid argues that the vote, called by Catalan leader Artur Mas, would breach Spain's rule of law because it would be held in Catalonia alone, rather than in the whole of Spain. It filed an appeal on Monday with the Constitutional Court to stop it going ahead, which Catalan officials now want to try and overturn.
With official campaigning halted for now, secessionist grassroots movements, which have swelled in recent years in the wealthy northeastern region and set the political agenda there, are likely to take centre stage.
Among the crowd in Barcelona were Esquerra Republicana (ERC), the only traditionally separatist party in the region, leader Oriol Junqueras and other party members.
"We are going to rally the people, we are going to deliver to the people. We promised there will be a vote so our obligation is to celebrate the vote. Let it rain, let it snow, let it hail. We will vote about our own freedom," ERC lawmaker Alfred Bosch told Reuters.
Hundreds of thousands of people have packed the streets of Barcelona on Sept. 11, the region's national day, for three years in a row, to call for independence.
"We just want to vote. 'Yes' or 'No'. To know how many people are in favour and how many against. And Spaniards don't understand that. And we want them to understand once and for all," said protester Isabel Redondo.
"There is big political and social consensus. Society is very mobilised. Now it is time to take a decision all together, but we are sure we will vote and we will win," teacher Josep Colomer added.
The legal suspension of Catalonia's plans had been expected for months, although Mas defied Madrid by calling the vote anyway, and is still pushing for ways for it to go ahead.
A large majority of people in Catalonia, a region with its own widely spoken language and distinct culture, agree that they want to hold a referendum on independence, polls show, and support for independence has been rising - although not to the point where it is clear that the region would vote to break away from Spain.
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