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The CNA provides a range of images from this Wednesday’s ‘Catalan Way towards independence’, the 400-kilometre human chain that spanned Catalonia from north to south. The demonstration gathered 1.6 million people and called for an independent Catalonia from Spain. The ‘Catalan Way’ has been organised by the grass-roots organisation the Catalan National Assembly. It was organised after the success of last year’s peaceful demonstration that bought 1.5 million people to the streets of Barcelona. Catalans seek to hold a referendum on whether Catalonia should remain part of Spain. Opinion polls reveal that over 50% of Catalans would vote to leave Spain if the vote were to take place.

11^th September is Catalonia’s National Day and two main ceremonies traditionally take place in the morning. The first one is the flower offering at the Rafael Casanova monument, honouring the leader of Barcelona’s defence against the Bourbon invasion of 1714. The second one is an institutional ceremony near the Catalan Parliament honouring Catalan culture, language and identity, including: poetry, music and flamenco dancing brought by Andalusian immigrants. The People’s Party (PP) – which runs the Spanish Government – has not been participating in the flower offering for the last few years, but this year it also decided not to attend the institutional ceremony. Instead, the PP held its own get-together with party banners.

On Wednesday, the 400 kilometre ‘Catalan Way’ human chain, which calls for an independent Catalonia, passes through FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium and into its stands. The Vice President of the sports club, Carles Vilarrubí, stated that Barça “always has its doors open to FC Barcelona fans and Catalans who want to express themselves”. He stated this following the flower offering that took place at the statue of Rafael Casanova during Catalonia’s National Day. Along with Vilarrubí, Barça’s delegation was headed by first team coach, Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, defender Gerard Piqué as well as other first team players, technical staff and players from other sections.

The Director of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, Gundega Michele, has stated that it is “marvellous” that the ‘Baltic Way’ “can help” Catalonia achieve independence. In an interview with the CNA, Michele also predicted that the Catalan human chain, which takes place this Wednesday afternoon, may be “more successful” than its Baltic equivalent thanks to new technologies than facilitate its organisation. The ‘Baltic Way’ took place in 1989 to claim independence from USSR for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Michele continued by stating that Catalans “should have the right to determine their future” and added that if a referendum cannot be held, a unilateral declaration of independence would be a “reasonable” solution.

CNA offers a selection of pictures from the flower offering to Rafael Casanova’s monument and the institutional ceremony at the Park de la Ciutadella. The first event took place at 9am near Barcelona’s Urquinaona Square. It is the most traditional celebration, with institutions, political parties, civil society organisations and even sports clubs bringing flowers to the statue of the leader of Barcelona’s resistance on the 11^th September 1714. The second event started minutes after 12pm at the Ciutadella Park, where the Catalan Parliament is located. It is the main institutional ceremony of Catalonia’s National Day, formed by symbolic artistic performances and the raising of the Catalan flag. This year, the ceremony honoured the 20^th century poet Salvador Espriu, the Medieval author Bernat Metge and the Catalan flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya.

Cadena Ser, Spain’s main radio station, has published an opinion poll on Catalonia’s National Day which points out that 52.3% of Catalans would vote “yes” in an independence referendum, while 24.1% would vote against it. It also reveals that 80.5% of Catalans want to hold a self-determination referendum. Furthermore, 59.7% of Catalans would still cast their vote even if the referendum was declared illegal. The opinion poll also indicates that 46.8% of Catalans would continue to support independence even if the Spanish Government agreed to grant Catalonia a fiscal scheme similar to that of the Basque Country, guaranteeing more financial resources. In this hypothesis, 27% would be against independence. Finally, the poll also indicated that, if elections were to be held in Catalonia, the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) would win with 22.1% of the votes, while the current governing Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) would come second with 20.7%.

The 11^th September is Catalonia’s National Day, honouring those who defended Barcelona from the Bourbon troops in a 14-month military siege and who were defeated on the same day of 1714. From that moment on, Catalonia lost its self-government institutions, its own laws and freedoms, and the Catalan language was banned and persecuted. The day consists of numerous ceremonies and celebrations throughout Catalonia, but three main events will gather most of the attention. At 9 am, institutions, political parties and civil society organisations will bring flowers to the Rafael Casanova monument, to pay tribute to the leader of the city’s defence in 1714. At noon, at the Ciutadella Park, the institutional ceremony will take place, with musical performances. Finally, the 400 km human chain ‘Catalan Way towards independence’ will take place from 4 pm to 6 pm.

This Tuesday, ‘The New York Times’ published an opinion article by the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, in which he shed light on the reasons for carrying out a self-determination vote that would ask Catalans if they want to become independent from Spain. “We have been willing to pay more than our fair share to the central government to support poorer regions of Spain, but it has gone too far” Mas stated. “We want to be Spain’s brother, as equal partners” he added. Wednesday is the National Day of Catalonia and independence supporters have organised a human chain that will link 400 kilometres of Catalonia from north to south, building on the 1.5 million strong demonstration from a year ago.

According to data released on Tuesday by the Spanish Airports and Air Navigation Authority (AENA), the number of passengers travelling through Barcelona’s El Prat Airport has exceeded Madrid-Barajas for the first time during the month of August. While Barcelona Airport received a total of 3.9 million passengers during August – representing an increase of 0.8% on the same month of 2012 – Madrid Airport had 3.8 million passengers – a reduction of 11.7%. El Prat also had an growth in the amount of passengers flying in transoceanic flights by 9.5%, which represents 331,578 passengers.

The day before the National Day of Catalonia and the ‘Catalan Way towards independence’ human chain, Spain’s Foreign Affairs Minister, José Manuel García Margallo, stated that the Spanish Government “will never accept an agreed” self-determination referendum with Catalonia. The statement comes a few days after it was revealed that the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the Catalan President Artur Mas have been negotiating to find an agreed way to solve the current situation. He also stated that “any independence process would have to come from a unilateral declaration of independence”, which would have “catastrophic consequences” for Spain and “particularly for Catalonia”. However, Margallo added that a new territorial model and financial scheme should be negotiated to stop “the detachment” from Spain that exists in Catalonia.

The Board of Directors of Catalonia-based Banc Sabadell has approved a capital increase operation of €1.4 billion. The transaction will take place in the form of two consecutive increases in order to “strengthen capital and allow new important shareholders to join the bank aiming [to reinforce] the future internationalisation process of the bank”. The decision by Sabadell, Spain’s fifth largest bank, to carry out this operation was taken after finding out about the “growing interest” of international investors to acquire stable assets of the Catalan financial entity. It is expected that at least €1.33 billion will be attracted, which will subsequently make Banc Sabadell to one of the best capitalised banks in Europe with a core capital beyond 11%.

Barcelona has unveiled a new museum located in the Born neighbourhood, next to the Gothic quarter, which explores how life was in the city during the early 18^th century, and will exhibit 8,000 objects. The Born Cultural Centre shows the neighbourhood’s ruins dating from 1714, when residents were forced to destroy their own homes and leave without any compensation after Barcelona’s military defeat. Next to the area, the largest urban military citadel in Europe was built, being part of the fierce repression that the Bourbon troops inflicted on Catalan citizens. From that moment onwards, Catalonia lost its self-government institutions, its own laws and freedoms, and Catalan language was banned and persecuted with the aim to homogenise the recently-formed Spain.

The Spanish Government had initially authorised the demonstration in the Valencian Country (also called Valencian Community). However, on Monday, two days before the peaceful event, the Sub-Delegation of the Spanish Executive in the Province of Castelló, decided to ban the human chain in its territory for “security reasons”. The ‘Catalan Way towards independence’ is a peaceful human chain that calls for Catalonia’s independence from Spain, and is inspired by the ‘Baltic Way’. It will cross Catalonia from north to south, a distance of 400 kilometres. In other Catalan-speaking territories, which were many years ago under Catalan rule such as the Valencian Country or the French Catalonia, human chains will also be organised by local organisations.

The ambulance service has gone on strike from Monday to Thursday because of a 9.2% drop in staff wages. However, the provision of basic services is guaranteed, such as emergencies – including accidents and intra-hospital journeys – and the transportation of oncology and haemodialysis patients with scheduled treatments. The Catalan Health Ministry and the trade union CCOO showed a disagreement on the strike’s success. According to the Catalan Government, the demonstration was only followed by 8% of the workers on its first day, while the CCOO stated that 90% of the non-essential services have not been provided. The owners of the ambulance providers announced significant salary reductions in July. After talks with unions and the mediation of the Catalan Labour Court, an agreement has not been reached to avoid the strike.

Valencia and Barcelona have continued to lead exports by sea in Spain during the first six months of 2013. For the same period of last year, Barcelona exported 5,180,000 tonnes, while in 2013 the figure increased to 5,380,000 tonnes, which represents an increase of 4.02%. However, Valencia has experienced a slight reduction. During the first six months of 2012, 6,236,000 tonnes were exported by sea from the city, while for 2013 this figure was 6,214,000 – a 0.36% decrease.