September 12th - BREAKING NEWS - Yet another massive protest rally occurred yesterday, this time in Catalonia, Spain with as many as 1.5 million gathering in Barcelona yesterday. What started off as Catalonia's national day quickly turned into a separatist rally demanding independence from the Kingdom of Spain, due to increasing austerity cuts to health and education among other public services in the region, and increasing unemployment levels of 22%.
Catalonia is considered an autonomous nation state within the Kingdom of Spain, comprising 15% of the population of Spain, and contributing 20% of Spain's economy.
"Surging unemployment and financial disarray have stoked a fever of separatism in Catalonia, a comparatively prosperous part of Spain whose leaders say their wealth is being sucked dry by the central government.
Crowds waved red and yellow striped Catalan flags – one of the oldest still in use in Europe – and sang the Catalan anthem on a national day marking the conquest of Catalonia by Spain’s King Philip V in 1714 after a 13-month siege of Barcelona.
The regional government said the crowd was 600,000 strong. Local police gave figures as high as 1.5 million.
Marchers said the sheer size of the crowd – swollen with people from around the region who descended on its capital in bright sunshine – would at last make Madrid hear their message.
“This is a blow for the government. People like me came from everywhere. I don’t think they were expecting something as big,” said 53-year-old Teresa Cabanes, who came from Santa Coloma de Gramanet, in the outskirts of Barcelona, to march.
“We feel that the central government is fooling with us. We Catalans are giving away a lot of money to Spain.”"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/european-business/vast-crowds-demand-catalan-autonomy-from-crisis-hit-spain/article4537019/
-- Kris — in Barcelona, Catalonia.
