CATALONIA LINK ARMS FOR INDEPENDENCE

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Carme Forcadell, the president of the Catalonian National Assembly, has promised a 400 kilometer long human chain will take place today, Wednesday, to coincide with the national day, Diada, which recalls the ultimate defeat of local troops in 1714 by forces of Spanish King Philip V.

She says that an estimated 400,000 people, will join arms at 17:14 hrs to signify the year 1714, which many Catalonians regard as the beginning of three centuries of oppression by the Spanish Kingdom. The human chain is part of a major drive for Catalonian independence from Spain, which intensely opposes the bid.

The chain will extend across 86 cities, towns and villages along the coast of Spain’s northeastern region on the Mediterranean, passing major landmarks such as the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona.

Nearly 5,000 volunteers will help run the protest event and about 1,500 buses will be provided to transport protesters into position.

In the latest major show of unity, hundreds of thousands of people led by the Catalonian independence movement staged a huge national day protest rally in Barcelona last year that was prompted by government cuts to health and education services.

But the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s rightist government refuses to tolerate a breakup of the nation and has threatened to block a referendum on self-rule, promised for 2014 by Catalonian regional President Artur Mas.

Mas, however, will not join the protest event himself, reportedly out of respect for his role as the political leader of all people in Catalonia, including those who oppose independence from Spain.

According to a recent poll, reported Sunday by the local media, 49 percent of the Catalans back independence from Spain while 36 percent are opposed to the bid.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/40598/

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