Catalan civil society to demand independence on September 11th and October 1st

Catalan civil society will demand independence on September 11^th and October 1^st with what are expected to be mass demonstrations.

September 11^th

This year, the traditional demonstration organized by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) for the Diada of Catalonia on September 11^th will start in Plaça Espanya at 5.14 pm and will end at Estacio de França via the Avinguda Marquès de l’Argentera, where political speeches will take place. The slogan of the protest will be: “Let us go again for victory: independence.”

October 1^st

The Catalan Council for the Republic, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium, and other diverse organizations have called for mass demonstrations and events on October 1^st to commemorate the 2017 independence referendum.

The main protest will start at Arc de Triomf in Barcelona at 5 pm. In parallel, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium will organize decentralized events across the territory, such as spending the night at the schools used as polling stations during the 2017 referendum.

This year’s protests will take place at a time when the Catalan government refuses to take decisive steps towards independence despite having a clear popular mandate. The success of the demonstrations will determine whether the government re-thinks its strategy and puts the independence struggle on the agenda again.

Spain’s government to keep state secrets confidential for up to 60 years

The Spanish government has approved a new bill that will let the state keep secrets confidential for up to 60 years. The bill will grant the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency the authority to propose the declassification of documents. For now, this power rests with the Ministry of Defense.

The new law establishes four categories of protection of official secrets: top secret, secret, confidential, and restricted. Depending on the category of documents, the declassification terms range from 4 to 60 years.

In this way, the ministry led by Félix Bolaños will assume the authority to recommend the declassification of documents. However, the final decision will ultimately rest with the council of ministers, at least for documents with a higher degree of protection.

Catalan pro-independence parties oppose this law, arguing that the Spanish administration wants to continue hiding what happened during the Transition and the 23-F coup attempt.