With just one week to go until the protest against the veto on Catalan prisoners and exiles taking their seats as MEPs, to be held in Strasbourg 2nd July, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) has already confirmed 64 buses and two charter flights, El Nacional has learnt. The civil society organisation is convinced that the amount of coaches, organised by their local branches across Catalonia, will grow over the next few days.
The demonstration, called by the Consell de la República (Council for the Republic), with ANC's support, has the aim of asking the European Parliament not to exclude elected MEPs Oriol Junqueras, Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comin. A further central aim is the visualisation of both the Catalan cause and the situation of the Catalan political prisoners, as well as demanding that "the Spanish state abides by the resolution of the Working Group for Arbitrary Detentions of the UN Human Rights Council and frees the political prisoners"
The gathering is to start at 9am outside the European Parliament, specifically on the corner of Josep Bech bridge and Rue Lucien Febvre, as the MEPs are entering the building. The main event, however, will take place at 12 noon, at the same spot, taking advantage of MEP's lunch break. This is the moment intended for the political event which will include addresses by the organisers.
The ANC started preparing the logistics for this protest some weeks ago, organising bus and flight packages to the French city. Bookings are still open at present. The bus tickets are on sale for 95 to 260 euros, the former being same-day returns, the latter including an overnight stay in a hotel. Flight tickets are around 500 euros.
The map below shows the timings and locations of the departures from around Catalonia:
Map: Cèlia Forment