{"id":119195,"date":"2017-09-24T02:03:17","date_gmt":"2017-09-24T06:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=119195"},"modified":"2017-09-24T02:03:17","modified_gmt":"2017-09-24T06:03:17","slug":"montrealers-rally-in-solidarity-with-catalan-independence-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/09\/24\/montrealers-rally-in-solidarity-with-catalan-independence-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Montrealers rally in solidarity with Catalan independence movement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE<\/a>
FILE PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL \u2014 More than 150 people gathered in front of Montreal’s Spanish consulate Saturday to express their solidarity with the Catalan independence movement.<\/p>\n

Organizers also denounced what they describe as the Canadian government’s timid response to the intensifying Spanish crackdown ahead of a planned Oct. 1 referendum.<\/p>\n

The Spanish government has increased its suppression of the independence vote with the arrests of a dozen regional officials Wednesday and the seizure of 10 million ballot papers.<\/p>\n

Regional government officials, including Catalonia’s president, so far have vowed to ignore a constitutional court order to suspend the referendum on Catalan independence from Spain.<\/p>\n

The rally in Montreal was organized by a Quebec sovereigntist group and was attended by several separatist politicians, including the leaders of the Bloc Quebecois and the Parti Quebecois.<\/p>\n

Others in the crowd said they weren’t Quebec separatists, but were present because they believe the Catalan government has the right to consult its population.<\/p>\n

Parti Quebecois Leader Jean-Francois Lisee said he couldn’t explain why the Quebec and Canadian governments have refused to denounce the Spanish government’s actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen democratic rights are suppressed, whether it’s in South Africa, Ukraine, Russia, China, we’re there,\u201d he said at the rally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t understand why (Quebec Premier) Philippe Couillard and (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau are there for South Africa, for China, for Ukraine, but they aren’t there for the Catalans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Couillard said earlier this week that he’s \u201cvery preoccupied\u201d by the situation, but did not go further in condemning Madrid.<\/p>\n

Trudeau, when questioned, has stressed the importance of the right to self-determination and the rule of law, but has said he doesn’t want to intervene in what he described as an internal debate.<\/p>\n

Two Catalan-Quebecers who attended the rally said they hope the Canadian government will change its position and speak up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need other government to say something because internally, we can’t do anything,\u201d Ferran Llacer said.<\/p>\n

He and his girlfriend Laia Blanco plan to travel to Spain next week to try to vote in the referendum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to know how many of us want to be a different country,\u201d Blanco said. \u201cJust count us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 More than 150 people gathered in front of Montreal’s Spanish consulate Saturday to express their solidarity with the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":19351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[24643,24642],"class_list":["post-119195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-catalan-independence-movement","tag-montrealers","mauthors-vicky-fragasso-marquis","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}