{"id":12653,"date":"2015-09-26T09:48:50","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T14:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=12653"},"modified":"2015-09-26T09:49:17","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T14:49:17","slug":"thousands-of-pro-independence-protesters-rally-in-barcelona-ahead-of-catalan-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=12653","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of pro-independence protesters rally in Barcelona ahead of Catalan elections"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article__summary summary \">\n<h3 class=\"article__heading\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/316550-catalonia-independence-rally-election\/\" target=\"_blank\">Thousands of pro-independence protesters rally in Barcelona ahead of Catalan elections<\/a><\/h3>\n<div class=\"article__cover\">\n<div class=\"media  \"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media__item \" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.com\/files\/2015.09\/original\/56067efdc46188ed558b45fc.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9 Albert Gea\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"media__footer media__footer_bottom \">\n<div class=\"media__title media__title_arcticle\">\u00a9 Albert Gea \/ Reuters<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article__share\"><\/div>\n<p>A massive pro-independence demonstration in Barcelona, Spain drew thousands of people on Friday just two days before parliamentary elections in Catalonia. The Catalan president has promised to break with Spain in \u201c18 months to 2 years\u201d in case of a win.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article__text text \">\n<p>Huge crowds waving red-and-yellow flags with a white star on a blue triangular \u2013 esteladas \u2013 filled the streets of Barcelona to show their commitment to Catalan independence, pictures posted on social media showed.<\/p>\n<p>As the mass rally was taking place in Catalonia, Spain\u2019s ruling conservative Popular Party (PP) issued a video in which its senior members, including Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, called on Catalans to reject the move.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cUnited we will win,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Rajoy said in Catalan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Parliamentary elections will be held in Catalonia on Sunday. Supporters of Catalan independence regard the vote as a form of independence referendum. They are counting on a decisive victory for the \u201cJunts pel S\u00ed\u201d (\u201cTogether for yes\u201d) coalition that advocates secession for the region.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cClearly, if we get a majority of the votes on September 27, then that\u2019s the referendum done,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Artur Mas, Catalonia\u2019s President said on Wednesday. He also promised to declare independence in 18 months to two years if the \u201cJunts pel S\u00ed\u201d movement wins at the polls.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mas also warned Madrid that Catalonia, which is Spain\u2019s richest region, producing about one fifth of its entire GDP, will not help Spain pay off its debts if it blocks the referendum on Catalan independence.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIf it does not make an agreement with Catalonia, how will Spain be able to pay back its debts, which will rise to 120 percent of its output, while it loses the most productive part of its economy?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he asked.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thousands of pro-independence protesters rally in Barcelona ahead of Catalan elections \u00a9 Albert Gea \/ Reuters A massive pro-independence demonstration in Barcelona, Spain drew thousands of people on Friday just two days before parliamentary elections in Catalonia. The Catalan president has promised to break with Spain in \u201c18 months to 2 years\u201d in case of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[9292,8851,353,495,8641,9294,9293,8114,743],"class_list":["post-12653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geopolitics","category-liberty","tag-barcelona","tag-catalan-independence","tag-gdp","tag-madrid","tag-mariano-rajoy","tag-popular-party","tag-pp","tag-rt-news","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12653"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12655,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12653\/revisions\/12655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}