The main public schedule of Catalonia’s National Day

Barcelona (ACN).- 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 were defeated on the same day of 1714. From that moment onwards, Catalonia lost its self-government institutions, its own laws and freedoms, and Catalan language was banned and persecuted. The day has numerous ceremonies and celebrations throughout Catalonia, but three main events will gather most of the attention. They are briefly reviewed here.

Flower offering

At 9 am, political parties and institutions, as well as many civil society organisations and sports clubs, will bring flowers to the Rafael Casanova monument. Casanova was the leader of the Catalan Government who led Barcelona’s defence in 1714. This is the most traditional event on Catalonia’s National Day. During Franco’s dictatorship, people used to discretely throw flowers were the statue was placed, which were quickly removed by policemen.

Institutional ceremony

At 11:30 am, the Ciutadella Park of the Catalan capital will hold the institutional ceremony, which has been taking place during the last decade. The ceremony is held in the same park where the Catalan Parliament is located. The event combines political speeches with musical performances and poetry readings, as well as the Catalan flag being raised by a ceremonial unit of the Catalan Police. Furthermore, this year, the event will honour the Catalan poet Salvador Espriu, who would have been 100 years old in 2013.

Catalan Way towards independence

Finally, the human chain ‘Catalan Way towards independence’ that calls for the independence from Spain will take place from 4 pm to 6 pm. The gigantic demonstration will cross Catalonia from North to South along 400 km and will pass through some of the main cities, such as Barcelona, Girona and Tarragona. At 17:14 pm the human chain will reach its peak, honouring the 1714 events. The civil society platform Catalan National Assembly (ANC) has prepared this new large-scale demonstration after having organised last year’s 1.5 million-strong demonstration during Catalonia’s National Day, which argued for Catalonia to become an independent state within the European Union. This year’s unconventional demonstration is inspired by the ‘Baltic Way’, which took place on the 23rd of August 1989 with two million people forming a 670 km-long human chain crossing Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.