Exiled Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont issues independence call near Spanish border
- It was the first time the former Catalan president had ventured so close to the Spanish frontier since he fled to Brussels to escape prosecution
- In October, nine other separatist leaders who remained in Spain were sentenced to heavy jail terms for sedition
Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled Spain over a failed 2017 independence bid, on Saturday exhorted tens of thousands of supporters to keep up the struggle, at a giant rally in southern France, near the Catalan border.
“We must prepare for the final combat, bypassing mistakes, doubts and weaknesses,” he told the crowd at the exhibition centre of a city that many consider the capital of northern Catalonia.
Huge crowds thronged the venue bearing pictures of Puigdemont and waving separatist flags of an independent Catalonia.
Local authorities estimated the turnout at 100,000 while organisers put it at 150,000. Organisers had booked 600 buses for the event.
It was the first time the former Catalan president had ventured so close to the Spanish frontier since he fled to Brussels to escape prosecution following the failed secession bid that sparked Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.
