The 2010 Catalan autonomy protest was a demonstration in central

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

on 10 July 2010 against limitations of the autonomy of

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, and particularly against a recent decision of the Spanish Constitutional Court to annul or reinterpret several articles of the 2006

Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 () provides Catalonia's basic institutional regulations under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. It defines the rights and obligations of the citizens of Catalonia, the political institutions of the Ca ...

. The number of people taking part in the demonstration was estimated at between 1.1 million (according to the local police) and 1.5 million (according to the organisers),. while

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

-based newspaper

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

estimated the number of demonstrators at 425,000. The mobilisation was described as "unprecedented" by the mayor of

. The Barcelona daily newspaper ''

El Periódico de Catalunya EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

'' described it as "without a doubt one of the biggest protest marches that has ever occurred in Catalonia, possibly the biggest". The 2012 Catalan independence demonstration involved more people, but this protest brought the dispute to light in the world. The demonstration was led by a banner with the slogan in Catalan ''Som una nació. Nosaltres decidim.'' ()

Background

A new Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia was a key promise by

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

candidate

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. O ...

in the run-up to the 2003 Catalan parliamentary election and the 2004 Spanish general elections. The new Statute was approved by 91% of the

Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia (, ; ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 members, known as Deputy (legislator), deput ...

, by the ''

Cortes Generales The (; ) are the Bicameralism, bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house) and the Senate of Spain, Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, ...

'' (parliament of Spain), albeit in a curtailed form, and finally by the electors of Catalonia in a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

on 18 June 2006 (73.24% in favour on a turnout of 48.85%). Almost immediately, the opposition People's Party launched a legal challenge to declare unconstitutional much of the new Statute. The opinion of the judges in the Constitutional Court was divided between "progressives", who felt the Statute was basically in line with Spain's 1978 Constitution, and "conservatives", who felt the Statute gave Catalonia far too much autonomy and so threatened the unity of the Spanish State. The debate went on for four years, with one judge dying in the meantime and four other judges continuing long after their terms of office had theoretically come to an end. A compromise was finally reached on 28 June 2010, and passed by six votes to four. The summary judgment published the same day revealed that the Court had declared parts of 14 out of 277 articles unconstitutional and would submit 27 more to restrictive "interpretation". The full judgment was released on 9 July 2010.

Organisation of the protest

The protest was organised by the prominent Catalan cultural organisation

Òmnium Cultural Òmnium Cultural () is a Spanish association based in Barcelona, Catalonia. It was originally created in the 1960s to promote the Catalan language and spread Catalan culture. Over the years it has increased its involvement in broader political i ...

with the public support of about 1,600 other organisations, including four out of the six political parties represented in the

(representing more than 85% of votes at the last parliamentary election), the two main

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s (

CCOO The Workers' Commissions () since the 1970s has become the largest trade union in Spain. It has more than one million members, and is the most successful union in labor elections, competing with the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), which is ...

and

Unión General de Trabajadores The Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, General Union of Workers) is a major Spanish trade union, historically affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). History The UGT was founded 12 August 1888 by Pablo Iglesias Posse i ...

(UGT)), the main employers' federation ( Cipec), and F.C. Barcelona. The march had been planned to start at 18:00 CEST (16:00 UTC) at the junction between the

Avinguda Diagonal Avinguda Diagonal (; in Spanish language, Spanish: Avenida Diagonal) is the name of one of Barcelona's broadest and most important avenues. It cuts the city in two, diagonally with respect to the grid pattern of the surrounding streets, hence th ...

and the Passeig de Gràcia . It was then to have descended the Passeig de Gràcia to its junction with the Gran Via, before turning left and finishing at the Plaça de Tetuan , a distance of about 2 kilometres (1 miles).

Events on the day

Well before 18:00, crowds had started to press down the Passeig de Gràcia from Diagonal, and many people were still moving up from the Plaça de Catalunya along both the Passeig de Gràcia and the parallel Rambla de Catalunya. The official "front" of the march, with its 25 by 10 metre '' Senyera'' (flag of Catalonia), eventually managed to form at the junction of the Passeig de Gràcia with Carrer d'Aragó , and started moving at around 18:20, albeit moving ''through'' dense crowds. By 19:30, it had only reached the Gran Via , a distance of about 400 metres. The organisers decided to perform the closing act – the singing of '' Els Segadors'' (the Catalan anthem) and the reading of a short manifesto – in a packed Plaça de Tetuan despite the absence of the official "head" of the march, and the demonstration started to disperse at around 20:00. Smaller parallel demonstrations by Catalan nationals living abroad also took place in London, Berlin, Brussels and other places.

Following years

The protest was followed in the succeeding years by the 2012 Catalan independence demonstration, the

Catalan Way The Catalan Way (), also known as the Catalan Way towards Independence (), was a human chain (politics), human chain in support of Catalan independence from Spain. It was organized by the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) and supported by 14 no ...

(2013), the Catalan Way 2014, the Free Way to the Catalan Republic (2015) and Go ahead, Catalan Republic (2016).

References

External links