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| Some 1 million Pro-Spain Unity demonstrated today in Barcelona | | |
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Hundreds of thousands are attending a
rally for Spanish unity in Barcelona after Catalonia was stripped of
its autonomy for declaring independence.
Many of those protesting in the region's largest city chanted that sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont should be jailed.
Mr Puigdemont was dismissed as Spain's central government took control of Catalan institutions.
On Sunday, a minister in Belgium said he could get political asylum there.
Spain
has been gripped by a constitutional crisis since a referendum,
organised by Mr Puigdemont's separatist government, was held earlier
this month in defiance of a ruling by the Constitutional Court which had
declared it illegal.
The Guardia Urbana, a Catalan municipal police force, said at least
300,000 people had turned out in Barcelona. Organisers and the
government in Madrid put the turnout a more than a million people.
Veteran Catalan politician Josep Borrell, a former president of the
European Parliament, told demonstrators that Catalonia's former
separatist leaders had no right to speak on behalf of the entire region.
Among the demonstrators was Marina Fernandez, a 19-year-old
student, who said she was unhappy with the actions taken by the Catalan
authorities.
"I am enraged about what they are doing to the country that my grandparents built," she told the AFP news agency.
Another
protester, Maria Lopez, told Reuters news agency: "What do we want?
That they don't break us up. This is a disgrace. We are not going to
consent. They are shameless, shameless, and Mr Puigdemont needs to be
taken to prison."
Read more: Catalonia independence: Huge Barcelona pro-Spain rally - BBC News
