01:15Spain: Catalans gather ahead of 400-kilometre chain try
Spain: Catalans gather ahead of 400-kilometre chain try
Catalan National Day was marked Wednesday with citizens in Barcelona hitting the streets ahead of the formation of what organisers hope will be the longest human chain ever seen in Europe. The planned 400 kilometre (250-mile) long chain is being set up along the coast. It is being built to promote the northeastern Spanish region's latest bid for independence.
The so-called Via Catalana ("Catalan Way") takes its inspiration from the Baltic Way, a human chain formed by up to two million people on August 1989 across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Around 400,000 people in Catalonia have signed up to participate in the chain, though organisers expect the actual number to surpass this figure.
Alex Ribo, pokesperson of the Catalan National Assembly abroad, said: "This is not about an elite who wants to be independent, it's about society who wants to be independent. If Spain says no, well then we will go to Europe and say 'OK, you have to convince Spain to say yes for the referendum.'"
Catalonia's centuries-long independence movement has burgeoned in recent years. Following last year's pro-independence rally in Barcelona on Catalan National Day, regional elections recorded the highest participation rates in over 30 years, with about 70 percent of eligible voters taking part. A referendum on Catalan independence is due to be held in 2014.
01:15Spain: Catalans gather ahead of 400-kilometre chain try
Catalan National Day was marked Wednesday with citizens in Barcelona hitting the streets ahead of the formation of what organisers hope will be the longest human chain ever seen in Europe. The planned 400 kilometre (250-mile) long chain is being set up along the coast. It is being built to promote the northeastern Spanish region's latest bid for independence.
The so-called Via Catalana ("Catalan Way") takes its inspiration from the Baltic Way, a human chain formed by up to two million people on August 1989 across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Around 400,000 people in Catalonia have signed up to participate in the chain, though organisers expect the actual number to surpass this figure.
Alex Ribo, pokesperson of the Catalan National Assembly abroad, said: "This is not about an elite who wants to be independent, it's about society who wants to be independent. If Spain says no, well then we will go to Europe and say 'OK, you have to convince Spain to say yes for the referendum.'"
Catalonia's centuries-long independence movement has burgeoned in recent years. Following last year's pro-independence rally in Barcelona on Catalan National Day, regional elections recorded the highest participation rates in over 30 years, with about 70 percent of eligible voters taking part. A referendum on Catalan independence is due to be held in 2014.