The Catalan National Assembly (ANC) has launched its international campaign to shine a spotlight on the independence trial due to start in Madrid on Tuesday. This Saturday has seen the first of the demonstrations which the pro-independence civil group has organized in 28 cities in Europe and three in the Americas.
This morning, rallies were held in seven centres in Germany and Corsica. Dozens of people took part in mobilizations in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, and Cologne in Germany, as well as in Ajaccio and Bastia on the island of Corsica.
The ANC is undertaking this international campaign to inform the European public of the "persecution and repression" being carried out by the Spanish state "against Catalonia and its citizens" purely for having exercised the right to self-determination. The campaign will hold demonstrations in European cities, as well as erecting banners and billboards and other graphic material, and distributing audiovisual content.
In Corsica, there were protests in Ajaccio and Bastia in front of the government prefectures. Yellow ribbons, showing solidarity with those pursued by the Spanish authorities, were hung on the government buildings along with a banner demanding the release of the Catalan prisoners.
Marie-Pascale Castelli, spokesperson for the Corsica-Catalonia Solidarity Committee, emphasised that in Catalonia, "civil society had been repressed by police with atypical violence" and that the major charges which the pro-independence leaders are facing, such as rebellion, which refer to "the use of violence, are a lie."
In Frankfurt, the rally began at 4pm at the Brockhaus-Brunnen fountain. Several dozen people took part in a protest which displayed a banner calling for "Freedom for the Catalan political prisoners", while a stand with information about the ANC's Make a Move campaign was also set up.
In Hamburg, during the day a panel was installed on the Jungfernstieg promenade, graphically reproducing the police repression of the 1st October referendum.
In Munich, a spotlight was also put on Catalonia's right to decide its future and the political prisoners issue. The ANC called a protest at 12 noon at the city's Marienplatz and fifty people attended to draw public attention to "the politicized justice of the Spanish state" on the eve of the Catalan independence trial.
Meanwhile, ANC president Elisenda Paluzie participated in the presentation of the documentary "The ANC, a Catalan civic assembly" in the French city of Toulouse, where she met with several representatives of the Occitan-speaking Languedoc region to discuss the current situation in Catalonia and the independence movement's principles.
International mobilizations will continue next weekend in other European cities. In addition to protests called in Mexico City and Washington DC, there will be rallies in Brussels, London, Geneva, Bilbao and Edinburgh, among other cities.
The interactive map below shows the cities, time and location of each planned rally: