Tens of thousands gathered Saturday, February 29, in Perpignan, in the south of France. These Catalan separatists came together in support of ex-Catalan leader in exile Carles Puigdemont, who called on the crowd to prepare for a "final struggle" for independence.

Arriving from neighboring Catalonia by car, train or in hundreds of coaches, his supporters waved independence flags or portraits of the Catalan leader.

According to the prefecture of the department of Pyrénées-Orientales, 100,000 people participated in this meeting while the organizers gave the figure of 150,000.

"Northern Catalonia"

Destroyed by the Spanish government after the attempted secession, Carles Puigdemont fled to Belgium to escape the prosecution of Spanish justice which sentenced in October to prison for sedition several former members of his government team.

It is the first time that the former regional president, now protected by his immunity from a MEP, has been in the immediate vicinity of Spain since his departure for Brussels.

"We must prepare for the final struggle, overcoming errors, doubts and weaknesses," said the former Catalan regional president on the esplanade of the Perpignan exhibition center, a city that the separatists consider the capital of "Northern Catalonia".

"We know we will not stop and they will not stop us. We do not have to wait for better days because it is now," he said to the applause of the crowd.

Division of the independence movement

In the context of the division of the independence movement between supporters of the confrontation with Madrid, as is Carles Puigdemont, and those of the dialogue, the former regional president called for "permanent mobilization" against "a (Spanish) monarchical regime which is the direct heir to Francoism ".

The divergences between the party of Puigdemont (Together for Catalonia) and its ally in the regional government (Left Republican of Catalonia, ERC) led his successor at the head of Catalonia, Quim Torra, to announce at the end of January the next organization of 'early regional elections.

ERC is in favor of a dialogue with the Spanish government of Pedro Sanchez, a condition that this group posed for the reappointment to power of the socialist leader in January.

With AFP and Reuters

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