Christmas festivals, markets, and concerts: What to do in December
The final month of the year always brings about wonderful Christmas activities to enjoy, here's our picks of what to do in December in Catalonia
plaça espanya
National Day protest to urge unity in pro-independence camp
This year's September 11 demonstration will be held in Barcelona's Plaça Espanya and will demand a "joint strategy" to achieve independence
Score of people injured in collision between motorcycle and bus in Barcelona
Accident in Espanya square also involved second bus, causing serious injuries to the motorcyclist but with passengers escaping with light injuries
Spain’s National Day celebrations in Barcelona smaller than in the last years
Nearly 4,000 Spanish unity supporters and extreme-right forces gathered this Monday in Barcelona’s ‘Plaça de Catalunya’to celebrate Spain’s National Day. Although this time neither the Spanish People’s Party (PP) nor anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans confirmed their attendance, the PP’s leader in Catalonia, Xavier Garcia Albiol, in the end took part in the rally, together with other PP members. With the slogan ‘Barcelona, capital city of Spanishness’, members of Falange –the fascist party of Franco, which is still legal in today’s Spain, groups opposing Catalonia’s independence and retired soldiers displayed Spanish flags, shouted ‘Catalonia is Spain’ and burnt pro-independence flags in the centre of the square. Spain’s National Day commemorates the day Columbus landed in America, in 1492. In Madrid there is a big army exhibition but in the last years the day has been regarded as opposition to Catalonia’s push for independence and other regions of Spain’s exaltation of Spanish nationalism and the denial of other regions autonomy, especially Catalonia and Basque Country.