‘I Don’t Want an Independent Catalonia’: Rally Backs Unified Spain<br />29, 2017<br />BARCELONA, Spain — Catalonia residents opposed to independence from Spain took to the streets of Barcelona in large numbers on Sunday<br />but struck a moderate tone, with many saying they felt Catalan and Spanish — and wanted to remain both.<br />Many of those marching in favor of a unified Spain pledged to vote in the Dec. 21 elections for a new Catalan Parliament,<br />which were announced by the Spanish prime minister on Friday when he stripped the Catalan government of its power.<br />Camina said that We are not even allowed to wear a bracelet to school with the<br />Spanish flag’s colors, but you can wear one with the independence colors,<br />"We have to have a legal referendum and both groups here have to work together: not only Spain, not only Catalonia." Ms. Gonzalez echoed a feeling expressed by many<br />that the independence drive was dividing colleagues in the workplace, children in school and even families whose members lean in different directions.<br />Like many others who want the region to remain part of Spain, he did not vote in the October referendum<br />because the Supreme Court had ruled that it was unconstitutional.<br />The tone of the rally, much like the overall mood in Barcelona this weekend, was one of relief: The tensions of recent weeks over the Oct. 1 referendum<br />and the subsequent retaliation by Spain’s central government appeared to have subsided.
