El independentismo recupera músculo en la Diada de Catalunya y prepara un "nuevo embate" para los diez años del 1-O

The Catalan independence movement has recovered this Friday part of the muscle lost in the streets during recent years. Around 45,000 people have demonstrated in Barcelona, according to the Urban Guard, in a Diada that clearly improves the minimum of 2025 and gives some breathing room to a movement still divided on its political strategy.

Participation in the Catalan capital has grown by 17,000 attendees compared to last year, when the official estimate was 28,000 people. The record is still far from the large mobilizations of the 'procés' and remains the second lowest since the massive marches began, although it breaks the downward trend of recent editions. The organizing entities have raised the balance to 100,000 attendees in Barcelona and 130,000 in the total of the three calls held in the capital, Girona and Amposta.

The two columns in Barcelona began to walk at 5:14 p.m. One departed from the confluence of Gran Via with Casanova street and the other from Via Laietana, at the height of the Cathedral square. Both toured the city center before meeting in Plaça de Catalunya, following the itinerary announced by the Barcelona City Council.

The esteladas have accompanied a march conceived to represent the present and future of the movement. The chosen slogan, 'Hi soc. Hi som. Pel present i pel futur. Independència', sought to respond to demobilization and claim that independence remains present on the Catalan political agenda.

The day was marked by the halfway point of Salvador Illa's mandate, the differences between Junts, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), the still incomplete application of the amnesty and the electoral growth of the independentist far-right. It also coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Diada de Sant Boi in 1976, the first major authorized celebration after the Franco dictatorship.

The rejection of Aliança Catalana's far-right crosses the day

The presence of Sílvia Orriols and Aliança Catalana has once again strained part of the celebration. The mayor of Ripoll participated in the Barcelona demonstration accompanied by about a hundred sympathizers and by her party's candidate for mayor of the capital, Jordi Aragonès.

The ultra bloc has paraded with a banner demanding a Catalan State that is "free, prosperous, safe, and Western". Some of their followers have chanted slogans against the CUP and heckled a demonstrator waving a Palestinian flag, another sign of the identitarian and exclusionary project with which Orriols tries to dispute the independentist space with other forces.

The response has come from several points of the march. The president of the International Escarré Center for Ethnic and National Minorities (CIEMEN), David Minoves, has called to "stand up to fascism" and defend a plural national identity. In his opinion, hate speeches represent a threat to social cohesion and hinder the construction of an independentist majority.

The president of Òmnium Cultural, Xavier Antich, has also called for a broad and democratic civic front against the ultra advance. In parallel, the independentist left's demonstration has marched through the streets from Urquinaona square with anti-fascist, anti-racist slogans and against Aliança Catalana. The spokesperson for the CUP, Su Moreno, has accused Orriols' party of trying to appropriate independentism to turn it into an exclusionary movement.

The president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, has defended during his party's event an inclusive Catalonia against those who intend to transform it into "a bunker". The republican leader has rejected that immigration poses a threat and has placed equal opportunities and social rights at the center of his national proposal.

The tension has also moved to Jacint Verdaguer square, where the Mossos d'Esquadra have separated a concentration of the neo-Nazi group Núcleo Nacional from a much larger anti-fascist protest. Riot police have encapsulated the approximately 40 ultras to prevent a confrontation, while about a thousand demonstrators chanted slogans such as "They shall not pass."

The police deployment came after the incidents recorded on Thursday at the Fossar de les Moreres. Protests against an event by Aliança Catalana ended with charges, three arrests, and several minor injuries to officers. The arrested individuals were released this Friday while remaining under investigation for public disorder, assault on authority, and minor injuries. EFE estimated the combined attendance at the opposing concentrations at around 3,000 people.

The ANC sets its sights on 2027

The central event in Plaça de Catalunya served the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) to try to turn the increase in participation into the beginning of a new stage. Its president, Josep Vila, announced a summit of pro-independence civil entities and a large mobilization for the autumn of 2027, marking ten years since the October 1st referendum.

Vila called for overcoming internal struggles and reproaches that have weakened the movement in recent years. The ANC's proposal involves returning the initiative to civil society and building a transversal space that could lead to "the first big step of a new offensive to win independence."

"We are here and we will not stop," proclaimed the pro-independence leader, who linked the problems of Rodalies, housing, public services, and tax pressure to the lack of self-government. "No decadence, independence," he affirmed before committing to convene the summit in less than a month.

Òmnium shared the need to regain the initiative. Antich assured that the independence movement "is very much alive," demanded the return of Carles Puigdemont and the rest of the leaders who remain outside Catalonia, and delivered one of the most applauded phrases of the afternoon. "We will do it again, and this time better," he stated.

The president of the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI), Salvador Coll, asked organizations to stop wasting energy on their disputes and criticized the Illa Government, which he defined as a "franchise of the Spanish Government." Representatives from Junts, ERC, and the CUP attended a mobilization that once again brought together very different sensibilities under a shared demand.

The event ended with an episode that the entities assure was outside the program. Several hooded people went up to the stage and burned a Spanish flag as the speeches were ending. The smoke forced the use of a fire extinguisher and the organization closed the Diada with the interpretation of 'Els Segadors'.