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ORGANISERS of the campaign for Catalonian independence celebrated yesterday after hundreds of thousands of pro-independence campaigners took to the streets on Friday.
The Together for Yes campaign had hoped for up to half a million people to support its demonstrations in the streets of Barcelona.
But in the event, nearly 1.5 million Catalans turned out to rally for independence opening the campaign for this month’s regional elections.
The campaign has promised to push through plans for an independent Catalan state if it wins a majority.
“This is the most important campaign of our lives,” said Raul Romeva of the Together for Yes — a coalition of Catalan leader Artur Mas’s conservative CDC party and the left-wing Catalan Republic Left.
Together for Yes is seeking to turn the September 27 regional ballot into a quasi-referendum on independence.
The formal campaign began on Catalan National Day, a holiday that in recent years has become a show of strength for secession-minded Catalans with massive rallies staged in support of breaking away from the Spanish state.
This year, organisers of the rally adopted the slogan “Let’s start building a new country.”
Last year more than one million Catalans turned up to demand a referendum on independence.
After several attempts to hold such a vote proved unsuccessful, Mr Mas called early elections in the 7.5m-strong region earlier this year.
“We tried to do everything before getting to this point,” said Mr Mas as he described years of rising political tensions between Catalonia and Madrid. “Absolutely everything.”
If Together for Yes wins a majority in the 135-seat parliament, he has pledged to lead a transitional government that will begin drafting a Catalan constitution and attempt to negotiate secession with the central government.
A majority would also give Mr Mas a mandate to unilaterally declare independence by 2017.
If it joins forces with the left-wing CUP, which is projected to win eight seats, the separatists could win the majority they need to begin the process of breaking away from Spain.
