BARCELONA (Sputnik) — Nearly 100,000 residents of Barcelona gathered in the city's center to express their support for Catalonia's upcoming independence referendum, the rally organizers told Sputnik.
"According to our preliminary data, there are nearly 100,000 people here," the organizers said.
The rally kicked off at Montjuic hill at 7 p.m. local time (17:00 GMT) with a concert. The students, families with children and senior citizens are carrying Catalan flags and banners, saying "yes," symbolizing the answer to the question put to a referendum — whether Catalans want independence from Spain.
The citizens are expecting the address of Catalan President Carles Puigdemont.
The units of Spain's Civil Guard and the Catalan police as well as ambulance crews are patrolling the area.
The farmers steered their tractors through central streets to gather for a demonstration near the buildings housing Spain's governmental agencies and show their support for the independence vote.
A Sputnik correspondent on the site reported that a reinforced unit of the National Police was deployed to secure the administrative building.
Catalonia's authorities have slated the independence referendum for October 1. The decision was challenged by Madrid in the Spanish Constitutional court, which subsequently ruled the upcoming vote unconstitutional.
Public polls show that 41 percent of Catalonia's residents support the independence of the region, while 49 percent oppose it. Around 80 percent of Catalans are convinced that the vote should be held, but the majority of them believe that the plebiscite can take place only after Madrid authorizes it.
