Catalonia celebrated its National Day on Saturday, with many local councils refusing to fly the Spanish flag from town hall balconies, something that is strictly forbidden by the Constitution. Hundreds of supporters of the Catalan Republican Left party, ERC, turned out in Barcelona to watch President Pascual Maragall lay a wreath at the statue of Rafael Casanova, the man who led the 1714 defence of Barcelona against the troops of King Felipe V. It was Sr Maragall's first National Day as Socialist president of the Generalitat, Catalonia's regional parliament, and he and politicians belonging to other parties were booed at, and called "Traitor" and "Spaniard" by the crowd. The main opposition party, Partido Popular, had refused to attend any National Day celebrations to avoid such scenes.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment