1.6 million in a 400-km human chain for Catalonia's independence

According to the Catalan Department of Interior, the attendance to the Catalan Way, a massive demonstration in the form of a 400-km (250-mile) human chain calling for the independence of Catalonia, has been of around 1.6 million people. This is more than 20% of the Catalan population.

The Catalan Way towards Independence has been an overwhelming success. The human chain organised by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) covered the 400 kilometres (250 miles) between El Pertús – at the French border - and Alcanar – in the southernmost part of Catalonia - in a mobilisation that exceeded all expectations and went beyond the figure of one and a half million people who, according to the Municipal Police, filled the streets of Barcelona in the 2012 demonstration on Catalonia’s National Day, the Diada.

The immense human chain organised by the ANC has become the biggest mobilisation in Catalan history and has been a massive call for the independence of Catalonia. The mobilisation was a further display of support in demand of a self-determination referendum in 2014.

The huge logistical challenge involved by the Catalan Way proved a success, unfolding in a completely civil, peaceful and festive atmosphere. The mobilisation has highlighted the country’s organisational capacity and its desire to undertake the journey towards becoming an independent state.

“The Catalan National Assembly (ANC) reiterates its commitment to work unabatedly to make Catalonia a new European state”, the president of the ANC, Carme Forcadell, stated in her final speech. “We are a nation because we want to be one”, Forcadell said, adding that “we want freedom; we want to exercise our right to self-determination”.

Forcadell urged political representatives to call the 2014 independence referendum. “We cannot and will not wait any longer”, she said, adding that if the referendum cannot be held, “the elected representatives should take necessary action to make Catalonia a free sovereign state”.

Carme Forcadell ended by saying “We would like 2014, the third centenary of our defeat by the Spanish troops, to become the first year of our freedom!”

In the morning the president of Catalonia, Artur Mas, and the vice-president of the Catalan government, Joana Ortega, met a delegation of the ANC, headed by its President, Carme Forcadell. The ANC handed to the president a petition for a clear question for the independence referendum, so the people of Catalonia can express itself in a clear and democratic way.