Thousands march through Barcelona in show of defiance
27 Aug 2017 4:46 PM GMT
Barcelona: Hundreds of thousands of people marched down Barcelona's broad Passeig de Gràcia this afternoon behind the slogan no tinc por (I am not afraid), in a show of defiance after last week's terror attacks that left 15 people dead and over 100 injured in Barcelona and Cambrils.
The protest, the largest in the city since some two million protested against the Iraq war in 2003, was called by the city council and the Catalan government. Ada Colau, the Barcelona mayor, called on people to "fill the streets to overflowing" and to show unity in the face of threats of further attacks on Spain from so-called Islamic State. The march was led by police and members of emergency and voluntary services. Determined to present a united front in the midst of the simmering secessionist row and with Catalonia's controversial independence referendum barely a month away, the Spanish political establishment turned out in force behind them.
Led by Felipe VI, the Spanish king, the prime minister Mariano Rajoy marched alongside an array of senior government officials, opposition leader Pedro Sánchez, the Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, leaders from several of Spain's 17 autonomous regions, the mayor of Madrid and the heads of the two main trade unions. People stood around tributes on Las Ramblas.
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