Catalan National Day independence rallies to be held in Barcelona, Girona, and Tortosa

Pro-independence rallies on Catalonia's National Day – September 11 – will be decentralized this year, with protests in Barcelona, Girona, and Tortosa, according to information obtained by the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

The format will be similar to in 2024, when 73,500 people took to the streets in five pro-independence demonstrations across Catalonia to mark La Diada, as the day is known in Catalan.

The rally organizers are a coalition of civil and pro-independence groups: the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural, the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI), the Council for the Republic, the Intersindical union, and CIEMEN.

The official slogan – which will appear on T-shirts distributed by the ANC – will be: 'Independence: More reasons than ever.'

Organizers say the slogan aims to emphasize the social urgency of the independence cause, highlighting the need to "keep the goal in sight" and maintain independence as the medium- and long-term "horizon."

They want this year's September 11 protests to preserve their "combative spirit" while also remaining "transversal," stressing that the event should be a day of unity and national mobilization – not aimed against any pro-independence political party.

The decentralization of the protests with rallies in the north (Girona) and south (Tortosa) of Catalonia, as well as in the capital Barcelona, is meant to reinforce this message of "transversality." 

This will be the second Diada marked by the presence of a far-right pro-independence party, Aliança Catalana, in the Catalan Parliament.

Organizers say that the party's possible presence will not alter the "civic and respectful character" of the demonstrations.

Pro-independence protests since 2012

In 2012, the Catalan National Assembly and Òmnium Cultural started organizing annual protests, which regularly attracted over one million attendees before the pandemic. 

In 2013, the so-called 'Via Catalana' human chain stretched along Catalonia from north to south, involving 1.6 million participants, including half a million in Barcelona alone.

The 2014 Diada marked the highest turnout, with a record 1.8 million demonstrators.

Numbers have recovered slightly since the pandemic, but have not come close to matching the massive turnouts seen in previous years.