Independence supporters turn out in numbers outside Parliament

The decision to postpone the session to swear in Carles Puigdemont as president did not stop thousands of independence supporters from demonstrating outside the Parliament on Tuesday, with a great many skipping the police cordon set up around the chamber.

The civil associations, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and the Committees for the Defense of the Referendum (CDR), had called on their supporters to turn out in force outside the Parliament at 3 pm, when the debate was scheduled to begin.

Despite the postponement of the plenary session in the morning, the ANC and the CDR maintained their call to demonstrate and thousands of people responded, with the official protest going on till 4 pm.

However, soon after the official protest was over, many people in the crowd skipped the police cordon around Ciutadella park where the Parliament building is located and headed to demonstrate outside the front of the chamber building standing squarely in front of the Catalan police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra.

With the lack of tension or violence that has become the hallmark of the pro-independence demonstrations, the crowd showed its determination, chanting “free the political prisoners”, “not a step backwards”, “out with the occupation forces” and “Puigdemont is our president”.

In fact, many of the demonstrators wore masks of Puigdemont’s face and were dressed in yellow, the color that has come to symbolize the demand for the release of the independence leaders still being held in prison.