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Around 16,000 Catalan hikers spent their Saturday climbing 18 peaks all around Catalonia to demand the release of the political prisoners and the return of those in exile. From first light, thousands of walkers set out for mountain summits, some easy and others more arduous, in different parts of Catalonia. The summits were selected by the prisoners and exiles themselves, and stretched from the Canigó in Northern Catalonia (chosen by the imprisoned Jordi Cuixart) to Tossal del Rei in the south (chosen by the exiled Lluis Puig).

Those taking part in the initiative included members of the Catalan government: president Quim Torra, who climbed Puigsacalm near the town of Olot, and ministers Miquel Buch, Laura Borràs, Chakir el Homrani, Jordi Puigneró and Damià Calvet. Parliamentary speaker Roger Torrent made an ascent of Matagalls, in the Montseny massif near Barcelona.

Most of the government ministers chose to climb the peaks selected by their predecessors in office, now imprisoned or in exile. Thus, president Quim Torra's climb to the top of 1,515 metre high Puigsacalm, offered the symbolism that the mountain had been chosen by president in exile Carles Puigdemont.

Translation: Nothing will stop us #SummitsForLiberty 

Catalan culture minister Laura Borràs made her climb on the mountain chosen by her predecessor, Lluís Puig, Tossal del Rei, 1,351 metres in altitude, in the Els Ports natural park, "the place where the three territories meets: Catalonia, Valencian Country and Aragon," she commented in a tweet. "This is for you, Lluís Puig, and for all the political prisoners and exiles", she added.

Similarly, the minister for territory and sustainability, Damià Calvet, and minister for enterpise, Àngels Chacón, accompanied the family of the jailed Josep Rull - who previously headed both ministries - while they climbed La Mola, 1,100 metres up, the highest point of the massif of Sant Llorenç de Munt, about 40km inland from Barcelona. "Today, political prisoners and exiles, we'll climb the peaks that are most special to you. We start a new day calling for your freedom", wrote Calvet on social media. 

Catalonia's interior minister Miquel Buch reached the top of the 1,705 metre Les Agudes, in the Montseny massif, in solidarity with Quim Forn, who headed the interior ministry previously; and the minister of work and social affairs, Chakir el Homrani, made the ascent of Montgrí, in the Baix Empordà county, close to the Costa Brava, which had been chosen by minister Dolors Bassa. He sent Bassa this message: "We have climbed your Montgrí to call for you". "We mustn't normalize injustice. Imprisonment and exile are an attack on freedom and democracy", added El Homrani. 

The 303 metre-high Montgrí peak contrasts with the 2,548 metres above sea level of Comabona, in the Pyrenees, the mountain climbed by the digital policies and public administration minister Jordi Puigneró. This was the summit chosen by the imprisoned presidency minister Jordi Turull. Once at the top, Puigneró inscribed a message in a notebook (shown in the tweet below) which read: "There are no middle ways in the history of peoples: either they are free and sovereign or they are dependent, but only those who are sovereign can assume the challenges of the future". 

Meanwhile, the speaker of the Catalan parliament Roger Torrent ascended the 1,600 metres to the peak of Matagalls, in central Catalonia, accompanied by the family of the exiled Marta Rovira.

Thousands of people took part in the initiative combining sport and solidarity, with the goal of raising awareness of the "injustice" represented by the situation of the pro-independence political prisoners, as the organization explained in a communiqué. All those who took part in the mass climb paid €10, raising funds for the Catalan Association for Civil Rights.

The full list of summits and the prisoners and exiles nominating them, along with maps and details of the ascents can be seen on the initiative's website