NEWS UPDATE TODAY IN SPAIN !30,000 People Down to the Road Support the Referendum for Independence of CATALONIA

BARCELONA - About 30,000 people took part in a demonstration in the Spanish city of Barcelona. They supported the idea of ​​holding a referendum on Catalonia's independence from Spain.

According to El Pais news agency ranging from autonomous region President Carles Puigdemont Casamajo to Manchester City manager and former Barcelona coach Joseph Guardiola took part in a demonstration held on Montjuic hill, Barcelona.

"The only possible answer is to vote.We are here to show that on October 1 we will vote on a referendum to vote for our future even if the Spanish authorities do not want us," Guardiola said as quoted by Sputniknews on Monday ( 12/6/2017).

On Friday, Puigdemont said that Catalonia would hold a one-sided referendum for independence on October 1, 2017, if an agreement with the central government to consult in an agreed manner would not be achieved. Puigdemont referred to his letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey on May 24, inviting the latter to begin negotiations on the terms and conditions of the referendum.

Previously, on 25 May, Rajoy refused to hold such talks.

Responding to Puigdemont's statement about holding a unilateral referendum, Spanish government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said that Madrid would ban any Catalan government's efforts to vote.

On November 9, 2014, about 80 percent of Catalans who took part in a non-binding referendum on the status of the region as part of Spain, chose Catalonia to become an independent state. However, the election of independence was not regulated by the Madrid authorities.