They denounced the strategy of confrontation of separatists and the violence that followed the condemnation of separatist leaders. Tens of thousands of Catalans supporting the unity of Spain marched Sunday, October 27, in Barcelona.

Evaluated at 80,000 by the police, the protesters descended the avenue of paseo de Gracia, waving Spanish and Catalan flags, shouting "enough" or "the streets are to everyone", thus diverting one of the slogans of Independents who were 350,000 on Saturday to demonstrate in Barcelona: "the streets will always be ours".

Catalonia is a rich region populated by 7.5 million inhabitants and has been divided since the rise of the independence wave in 2012.

The latest poll published in July by the separatist regional government of Catalonia gave 44% supporters of independence and 48.3% of opponents.

Employed in the pharmaceutical industry, Xavier Dalamantes, 40, wore the Spanish flag on his shoulders like a cloak, denouncing what the separatists call the "process" of secession.

"For years I've been trying to bear, at first I closed my eyes but there is a moment when you have to go out and say what you think," he told AFP. "They are trying to make Catalonia a totalitarian state".

"Silent majority"

Sunday's march was convened by the association Societat Civil Catalana (SCC). The purpose of the maneuver was to demonstrate that anti-independence activists form a "silent majority".

"We demand the end of this absurd bet that leads us with him," says the manifesto of the SCC, adopted at the end of the event and which has for motto "For concord, for Catalonia, enough!".

But 15 days before the legislative elections on November 10, the leaders of the right-wing parties of Spain and members of the socialist government joined the demonstration.

Catalan Foreign Minister Josep Borrell denounced "an unacceptable level of violence, never seen since the 1980s" in the pro-independence demonstrations that followed the Supreme Court's conviction of nine separatist leaders to heavy prison terms on October 14th.

The main cities of Catalonia had been the scene for four nights of street fighting scenes that left more than 600 wounded, almost half of them policemen.

With AFP