Million Catalonians march for right to be a nation

by 'Morning Star' (UK)

Up to a million march through the streets of Barcelona to demand greater autonomy for Catalonia and protest against a recent court ruling forbidding the region from calling itself a nation

Over a million people packed into central Barcelona on Saturday to demand greater autonomy for Catalonia and to protest against a recent court ruling forbidding the seven-million-strong region from calling itself a nation.

More than 1,000 organisations, including political parties, trade unions and cultural and business associations, took part. Protesters waved Catalan flags and marched behind an enormous banner which declared: "We are a nation. We decide."

Madrid courts recently granted sweeping new powers of self-rule to the region, which accounts for 25 per cent of Spain's GDP, but on Friday its highest court ruled that the country's constitution recognised Spain as the country's only nation, dealing a blow to efforts by Catalonia to assume that status.

The verdict came after four years of debate in which conservative and liberal judges locked horns over whether the charter went beyond the limits of Spain's system of granting varying degrees of self-rule to its 17 regions.

The Catalan region's statute of autonomy - earlier approved by the Spanish parliament and endorsed by Catalan voters in a 2006 referendum - gave the regional parliament enhanced powers in taxation and judicial matters as well as more control over airports, ports and immigration.

The court approved most of Catalonia's statute of autonomy in June but changed some of its most controversial points, which sparked the anger of the regional government.

The statute has the support of most political parties in Catalonia where a sizeable minority would like to see the wealthy region - which has its own language and distinct culture - break away from Spain.

It was one of the first initiatives of the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero which took office in 2004.

Catalans are proud of a history which until the early 18th-century linked them to the independent kingdom of Aragon.

But during the Franco dictatorship from 1939 to 1975 Catalans were forbidden to either speak or publish books in their language.