BARCELONA, Spain, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Marchers by the hundreds of thousands filled Barcelona, Spain, streets Thursday, calling for a referendum on Catalonian independence from Spain.

Catalonia, an "autonomous community" of over 7.5 million people in northeastern Spain, is designated by Spanish law as a "nationality," and the region is swept by a nationalist fervor. It is seeking a non-binding referendum Nov. 9, a vote the Spanish government has declared illegal.


The demonstration Thursday comes on "Diada Day," an annual event honoring the day Catalans claim they lost their autonomy, the Sept. 11, 1714 fall of Barcelona to Spanish and French troops in the War of the Spanish Succession. Catalonia's distinctive red-and-yellow-striped flag could be seen all over Barcelona, Catalonia's largest city, and marchers formed a seven-mile-long "V' shape in the streets, indicating "via," "voluntat," "votar" and "victoria" (way, will, vote, victory).

"There is very little prospect that Madrid will allow the Catalans to vote in the foreseeable future despite the determination of Artur Mas," said Catalonia resident Christopher Carnie, a reference to the president of the region. A proposed law allowing a "consultation vote' on independence is expected to be ruled illegal, later this month, by Spain's Constitutional Court.

The colorful demonstration notwithstanding, the question of Catalonian independence has become a flashpoint in relations between the national and regional governments, and the referendum effort regards a Sept. 18 independence vote in Scotland, considering secession from the United Kingdom, as an inspiration.

"If Yes (pro-independence) won in Scotland, the Catalan independence movement would become stronger", said Barcelona political scientist Eulàlia Solé-i-Tomàs, a political scientist from Barcelona. "Spain would be terrified and would increase the pressure on Catalonia as well as strongly emphasize the refusal of the referendum."

"The U.K. is willing to let Scotland vote and Catalonia is refused that right by the Spanish," said author Liz Castro. "Catalans look to the Scotland-U.K. question with a sense of envy and admiration. They're constantly talking about the 'quality of the democracy' there. Personally, I wonder if it's a bit romanticized and idealized. But, the truth is that (Scots) all will vote on Sept. 18th, and Catalans are still debating what we will do when they tell us we can't."

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