850km march towards Madrid prisons to support jailed leaders completed

Hundreds of protesters arrived on Monday to the three prisons in the Madrid region where nine Catalan leaders are being held in custody. This was after three days of an uninterrupted relay march starting in Barcelona. All in all, the route covered around 850 kilometers with a clear aim: supporting and solidarizing with the pro-independence politicians incarcerated, “who have unjustly been prevented their freedom for peacefully defending their ideas.”

Around 260 people took part in the initiative, which “aims to show the roughness of the punishment and the distance that separates interns from their families,” according to Anna Vilà, one of its promoters.

Upon arrival to the Madrid region prisons, the protesters handed in books with different texts and signatures supporting the prisoners. “We will keep this cause alive until they are freed,” said Vilà when the march got to Estremera prison, where five deposed Catalan ministers are incarcerated, including the vice president Oriol Junqueras. Some pro-independence officials were waiting outside the prisons for the marchers, who were taking 10-kilometer relays. The activists involved in the initiative included relatives of incarcerated politicians, such as Pau Surroca, the son of deposed minister Dolors Bassa.

A number of imprisoned politicians thanked the people who took part in the relay on Monday after their arrival. “I have no words to express what I am feeling, I know that you will not lose spirit,” tweeted the deposed Catalan vice president, Oriol Junqueras. “You have made the distance disappear, you are getting Estremera prison closer to Catalonia,” said the deposed Territory minister Josep Rull.