Pictures of the 400 km ‘Catalan Way towards independence’

Barcelona (ACN).- The CNA provides a range of images from this Wednesday’s ‘Catalan Way’ – 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 festive human chain went through major cities as well as FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium and passed next to monuments such as the Sagrada Família and Tarragona’s Roman Arch. It was inspired by the ‘Baltic Way’ in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from 1989. The human chain was organised by the grass-roots organisation the Catalan National Assembly on 11^th September, which is Catalonia’s National Day. It followed the success of last year’s peaceful demonstration, which bought 1.5 million Catalans to the streets of Barcelona, to request independence from Spain. Catalan independence supporters seek to hold a referendum in 2014 that would ask the population if they wanted to remain part of Spain. However, the President of Catalonia, Artur Mas, is still waiting for a response from Madrid on whether the referendum will be allowed to take place. Numerous opinion polls show that over 50% of the electorate would vote to become independent in a self-determination referendum.