Turnout of more than half a million in Barcelona well down on previous years, despite high-profile separatist trial

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

More than half a million people have gathered in Barcelona on Catalonia’s national day (Diada) to renew calls for regional independence as Spain awaits the verdict in the landmark trial of 12 separatist leaders over the failed breakaway bid two years ago.

Despite the politically charged atmosphere, police in the Catalan capital said that around 600,000 people had taken part in the annual event – dramatically down on the 1 million who turned out for the previous two Diadas.

Although the occasion officially commemorates the fall of Barcelona at the end of the Spanish war of succession in 1714, in recent years pro-independence groups have used it as a show of strength and a means to focus attention on the cause.

When the independence movement first erupted in 2012, 1.5 million people took part in the Diada, rising to 1.8 million two years later.

This year’s decreased turnout – the lowest in seven years – comes amid growing splits, squabbling and uncertainty within the secessionist movement.

Speaking on the eve of the Diada, Catalonia’s pro-independence regional president, Quim Torra, had urged people to “take to the streets and squares to proclaim our full and non-negotiable commitment to democracy, to social, civil and political rights, and to the flag of freedom, always and everywhere”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Two men wave a Catalan pro-independence Estelada flag in Barcelona. Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

In a tacit acknowledgment of the unsuccessful unilateral push for regional independence led by his predecessor, Carles Puigdemont, Torra added: “If we’re not yet free, it’s because we haven’t yet reached the end of the path.”

While Torra also insisted that “all peaceful, democratic struggles must be able to prosper if they have the backing of the majority of citizens”, pro-independence parties have never managed to attract 50% of the vote in regional elections and Catalonia remains fairly evenly split over the question of independence.

A Catalan government poll in July suggested 48.3% of Catalans are against the creation of an independent state and 44% in favour.

Two years after Puigdemont’s government held a unilateral independence referendum in defiance of the Spanish courts and constitution and then unilaterally declared independence, the issue remains bitterly divisive.

Spain’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, alluded to the independence movement’s co-opting of the Diada in parliament on Wednesday morning, saying: “Let’s hope we’re getting close to the day when the Diada is a day of celebration for all the men and women of Catalonia.”

Although Sánchez has shown himself far more willing to discuss the Catalan issue than his predecessor, Mariano Rajoy, he has also firmly ruled out a referendum on self-determination.

Efforts to find a way out of the impasse have been complicated by the trial of the dozen separatist leaders, including Puigdemont’s former deputy, Oriol Junqueras, over their alleged roles in the push for independence.

Nine of them – including Junqueras, the former speaker of the Catalan parliament Carme Forcadell, and two influential grassroots activists, Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez – are accused of rebellion, which carries a prison sentence of up to 25 years. Other charges include sedition and misuse of public funds.

Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after Rajoy used the constitution to sack his administration and assume direct control of Catalonia, has now been in self-imposed exile for almost two years.

With the supreme court’s verdict expected in the next month, the Catalan government and the independence movement as a whole are weighing up their response.

In the lead-up to the rally, the streets of Barcelona had filled with people waving striped red-and-yellow Catalan flags and wearing T-shirts bearing separatist slogans.

“If we, the people, don’t take action, all these years will have been for nothing,” Marc Casanova, a 37-year-old teacher, told Agence France-Presse.

He said that, once the verdicts had been handed down, Catalans should follow the example of the “yellow vest” demonstrators in France and block roads, ports and airports – “but without the violence or vandalism”.

Earlier this week the regional vice-president, Pere Aragonès, said the court’s decision could trigger “massive, peaceful civil demonstrations” and lead to the formation of a regional “government of national unity” to try to force the Spanish government to seek a negotiated, political solution.

The independence movement has lost momentum as different blocs argue over the best way forward.

Torra and Puigdemont favour a continuing confrontation with Madrid, while Junqueras and Aragonès’ Catalan Republican Left party are more inclined towards negotiations.

“I don’t believe in politicians,” Cristina Montero, who attended the march with her partner and teenage son, told Reuters.

“I believe in the sentiment of the people coming here.”