“Self-determination is not a crime”: big pro-Catalan rally staged in Madrid with 120,000 people

Tens of thousands of supporters of Catalan independence have rallied in Spain's capital Madrid in protest at an ongoing trial of 12 separatist leaders.  Many waved Catalan flags and had placards reading "Self-determination is not a crime". Protest organisers said 120,000 people marched in Madrid. The separatist leaders of Catalonia's failed 2017 independence bid face rebellion and sedition charges. If convicted, some could face up to 25 years in prison.

The demonstration through Spain's capital was organised by two civil society groups the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural and led by Catalan leader Quim Torra.
Demonstrators waved the Catalan flag and marched under signs reading: “Self-determination is not a crime”.

In unusual scenes for the capital, the central Paseo del Prado boulevard was steeped in red, yellow and blue, the colours of the Estelada flag of the Catalan independence movement.

"I think it's a fair judgement to say you've never heard the voice of Catalan independence spoken so loudly and with so many numbers here in Madrid," Al Jazeera's David Chater, reporting from the demonstration, said. "There are two phrases that have been prominent here: that democracy is about taking decision and that self-determination is a right, not a crime." Canarian, Basque, Castilian delegations took part in the rally denouncing that 90,000 people have been prosecuted by the Spanish opinion law (ley mordaza) against freedom of expression in the neoFrancoist Spain.

Pictures