Membership of Catalan pro-independence organizations soars

Support for pro-independence civil society organizations in Catalonia has soared since the October 1 referendum. According to Òmnium Cultural and the Catalan National Assembly, the two leading grassroots groups in Catalonia’s push for secession, their membership numbers started rising on the run-up to the independence referendum, and have continued to grow ever since — especially when the presidents of the two organizations were sent to prison almost a month ago on sedition charges.

Òmnium Cultural has 85,689 members in total. Over the past six weeks, it has gained some 14,000 new members. On October 16, the day when Jordi Cuixart and ANC president, Jordi Sánchez, were sent to jail, around a thousand people reached out to become new members of the organization.