Catalan crisis
Spain marks national day with show of unity
AFP
MADRID: Spain marked its national day Thursday with a show of unity in the face of Catalan independence efforts, a day after the central government gave the regions separatist leader a deadline to abandon his secession bid, reports AFP.
The country is suffering its worst political crisis in a generation after separatists in the wealthy northeastern region voted in a banned referendum on October 1 to split from Spain.
To mark the national holiday, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and King Felipe VI attended a traditional military parade in central Madrid.
Armed forces marched along Madrids Paseo de la Castellana boulevard to commemorate the day that Christopher Columbus first arrived in the Americas in 1492.
Separate pro-unity rallies, including one by members of a far-right movement, got under way in the Catalan capital Barcelona.
In Madrid, cheering crowds lined the streets, waving red and yellow Spanish flags and some crying Viva Espana! as air force jets and helicopters swooped overhead.
Javier Corchuelo, a 28-year-old welder, came with his friends from a town southwest of the capital to witness the spectacle.
With all that is happening I thought it was important to be here, he told AFP. We have to show that we support Spain.
Rajoy has vowed to do everything in his power to prevent Catalan secession and his government said Wednesday that it would take control of the region if it tried to break away.
The warning came after Catalonias president Carles Puigdemont announced Tuesday that he had accepted the mandate for Catalonia to become an independent state.
