President and parliament speaker join solemn 'march for freedom'

The Catalan president, Quim Torra, and the Parliament speaker, Roger Torrent, joined a solemn march on Monday evening.

This is the first big event organized by the Catalan authorities to commemorate Catalonia's National Day, which will take place on Tuesday, September 11.

With this unprecedented "march for freedom," the Catalan government and chamber remembered the political leaders who are in pre-trial jail or in exile.

The march, in which officials and citizens taking part were carrying a lantern, started outside the Parliament and was due to finish in Plaça Sant Jaume square, where the seat of the government lies.

The light of the lantern was set to the government seat, metaphorically representing the end of the "darkness" of direct rule, in force for seven months until June 2018.

The march went past the Born Centre Cultural, a building hosting some remains of the 18th century Barcelona –the time when Catalonia fell at the hands of the Bourbons in the War of Succession, representing the end of the country's sovereignty–. The Born remains have been a symbol for the pro-independence movement for the last few years.

In the Born Centre Cultural, the most solemn events took place, including hoisting the Catalan flag, the formation of the Catalan police guard of honor and the interpretation of one of the country's most symbolic songs for its national identity, the Cant de la Senyera.