More than 1.6 million people in the Catalan human chain

The Via Catalana cap a la Independencia (Catalan Way towards Independence), human chain from the Pyrenees to the Ebro river (and beyond) to demand, once again, the sovereignty of Catalonia, was a total success. 

According to the Catalan Government (Generalitat), the demonstration gathered no less than 1.6 million people, figures that are perfectly comparable to the last year's Diada, in which the figures danced around 1.5 or 2 million. The Catalan demand for independence remains undauntedly strong. 

However this year's format was much more challenging: imitating the initiative of the Baltic Countries decades ago, they organized a human chain from the port of Pertús in the Pyrenees to the border with the Valencian Country by the South. In fact this last border was finally overcome after the Supreme Court accepted in the last minute that the extension of a kilometer to Vinarós was fully legal.

Soon after that historical Baltic chain, spanning Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, these states became independent. Will that be the case of Catalonia? Nobody really knows at this stage but it is clear that it is what the Catalan People wants and denying such a massive demand is outright imperialist and antidemocratic. 

Fascist attack in Madrid

The negative point in such a day of democratic celebration was the attack suffered by the act in the delegation of the Generalitat in Madrid by a group of some 15 neonazis who injured several assistants, including elect representatives, and threw pepper gas inside the hall. 

So far the attackers, who acted with their faces uncovered (except one), are at large.

Sources[es]: Naiz Info (→ photo gallery), La Vanguardia (→ fascist attack video), El Periódico.


Update: Six arrested so far for the fascist aggression in Madrid, the most notorious one is Íñigo Pérez de Herrasti Urquijo, born in 1957, and who already was in prison for terrorism: arrested in 2000 with weapons and explosives and an organized cell that planned to attack relatives of Basque political prisoners when they had to travel to Madrid for visits. Sentenced to 14 years, he's already at large, while Basque prisoners are forced to do their sentence in full or even more.

The other five arrested are quite younger, born between 1978 and 1989 (i.e. people who have no first person experience of living under fascism). Their names are: Javier Marcos Aroca, Pedro Chaparro Velacoracho, Victor Diego Villalba, Santiago Cabezuela García and Paula Mijares.

Source: Sare Antifaxista[es].