The evening of 30 December in Palma has become an occasion for displays of pro-independence and republicanism, and yesterday was no different. Some 2,000 people took part in a march and rally that called for liberty for political prisoners (a reference to politicians imprisoned in Catalonia) and for the right to decide on sovereignty.
The context for the march, as always, was the ceremony to honour King Jaume I. While floral tributes were made, the 2,000 pro-independence demonstrators encountered around 150 "constitutionalists". "We are of the Balearics and are Spanish, not of the Catalan Lands," cried the latter group. "Independentists, out of Majorca," to which a response was "children of Franco".
Organised by the Bloc d'Unitat Popular, prominent among the demonstrators were Més spokesperson David Abril and the president of the Assemblea Soberanista de Mallorca, Cristòfol Soler, who was once (and for a short time) a Partido Popular president of the Balearics. Also present were the Més mayor of Palma, Antoni Noguera, the ex-tourism minister, Biel Barceló, and the environment minister, Vicenç Vidal.