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Catalan Separatists Pull Off Protest But Referendum Is Harder

After 400-Kilometer Human Chain, Secessionists 

Need to Line Up Support for Referendum

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http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324094704579068622928422380 

By MATT MOFFETT 

Activists calling for the independance of Catalonia, currently a region of Spain, take part in a 'human chain' during a protest on Wednesday. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

BARCELONA—Hundreds of thousands of pro-independence Catalans joined hands to form a nearly 250-mile human chain Wednesday to press their cause, but a tougher organizational challenge lies ahead in lining up support for a secession referendum.

Such a vote, pledged for 2014 by Catalonia's two leading political parties, has provoked opposition from Spain's conservative central government and revealed strains within the independence movement that seem unlikely to be resolved even by the protest's massive turnout.

Catalan government officials estimated some 1.6 million people lined up on highways, beaches and city streets along the length of the chain, which ran from the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains to the Mediterranean Sea. TV helicopters flew over the route, and if there were any gaps in the chain, they didn't appear to be significant in video footage. In Barcelona, the atmosphere was festive as the chain ran past landmarks such as the Sagrada Familia Basilica and Camp Nou stadium.

Pro-independence Catalans formed a 250-mile human chain Wednesday. Reuters

Photos: Catalans Rally

People hold torches during a rally as part of a campaign for independence from Spain, on the Fossar de les Moreres square in Barcelona on Tuesday evening, the eve of the National Day of Catalonia, or Diada. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Carlos Muñoz said he and his wife traveled an hour and a half from central Catalonia via train, subway and bicycles to take places in the chain in downtown Barcelona. "I would have come twice as far to be a part of this," he said.

The demonstrators, decked out in Catalonia's yellow and red colors, came with a message for Madrid. One young girl held a sign reading "Catalonia is not Spain." University students Mercè Esteve and Agnès Gassò hoisted a sign reading: "Freedom is the Only Way."

Catalonia, Spain's wealthiest and most industrialized region, has long asserted that the central government discriminates against its language and culture while draining off much more in tax revenue than it returns in investment. Spain's painful recession has intensified the disputes over scarce resources and fanned secessionist flames.

But independence activists face an uphill struggle. In recent days, plans for Wednesday's protest were often overshadowed by Catalonian political leader Artur Mas's seemingly contradictory statements about his promised independence referendum. In a radio interview last week, Mr. Mas appeared to back off a pledge to hold the vote next year, saying he didn't expect the central government to permit it. Instead, he offered the option of holding a parliamentary election in 2016 that would also allow voters to take a position on independence and would carry the force of a referendum.

Mr. Mas's comments provoked grumbling from members of the second-largest party in Catalonia's parliament, the Republican Left of Catalonia, or ERC, which has a longer history of backing independence than Mr. Mas's more mainstream Convergence and Union Party, or CiU. The two parties have fashioned a political alliance of convenience—which includes a joint pledge for the referendum—since the ERC gained seats and the CiU lost some in parliamentary elections in November.

In the face of criticism from the independence movement, Mr. Mas retreated from what he told the radio interviewer and said the referendum will occur in 2014 "one way or another." He vowed not to "back off one millimeter" from that pledge.

Mr. Mas told reporters Wednesday that it was wrong to interpret his statements as showing inconsistency or wavering from the goals of the independence movement. He said his statement last week reflected the reality of "a very closed position" by the central government against the referendum. Again, he mentioned the option of delaying the issue until 2016, but only as "a last resort."

Talk of delay is anathema to independence activists. "Normally history is decided by those who know how to use windows of opportunity before they close," said Elisenda Paluzie i Hernández, an independence backer who is dean of economics at the University of Barcelona.

Other analysts point out that while Mr. Mas has tried to ride the pro-independence wave, he doesn't control the diffuse movement.

"This is a movement that's always been more about average people than about politicians," said Joan Serra, spokesman for the Catalan National Assembly, the largest of some 14 citizens groups that organized the chain. He called Wednesday's protest "a show of strength" and a demonstration of organizational capacity. Pro-independence forces developed a phone app to keep participants informed and deployed drones to photograph it.

The secessionists got a break from the weather. A drizzle that persisted through much of the morning gave way to sunny skies an hour before the protest started. To shouts of "Independencia!" demonstrators locked hands at exactly 5:14 p.m. The hour of the protest, 17:14 military time, was significant because on Sept. 11, 1714, the Spanish Crown captured Barcelona after a bloody siege.

Thousands of pro-independence Catalans linked arms Wednesday to form a nearly 400-kilometer chain, crossing in front of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia Basilica. lluis gene/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

In Madrid, where the independence movement is viewed warily, the chain protest received cursory coverage on state television. It showed live shots of protesters along the chain for about four minutes after they joined hands, then cut to a stock-market report and a story on the 9/11 remembrance in New York. Last Sept. 11, independence activists widely criticized state television for making a march by about one million Catalans its fifth-most important story of the day.

In one incident in Madrid, approximately 15 anti-separatist demonstrators burst into a Catalonian cultural office shouting "Catalonia is Spain," according to Spanish media. The intruders got into a shoving match with some Catalans who were observing the regional holiday, broke windows and sprayed tear gas in the room, according to the Spanish news service EFE and Spanish TV reports.

Some Catalans who oppose independence said it would be mistaken to give Wednesday's demonstration too much weight. The protestors are "a hyper-mobilized minority" whose voice is further amplified by pro- independence Catalan media, said Joaquim Coll, a historian at the University of Barcelona. He said the anti-Madrid sentiment that has surged in Catalonia in response to Spain's long recession is comparable to the anti-immigrant or anti-euro sentiment that has emerged in some other crisis-battered European countries.

—David Román
and Anna Perez in Madrid contributed to this article.

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