The Catalans are coming! 2,000 to march in Brussels

This month it was 200 mayors, next month it’s 2,000 members of the Catalan branch of the ICEC, a group based in Brussels that lobbies the EU to recognise European regions’ demands for self-determination.

The ICEC was founded in Catalonia in 2009 and grew to represent several nationalist movements, including from Scotland, the Basque Country and Flanders. The group of Catalans that are part of the ICEC movement will arrive in Brussels on 7 December.

“They want respect for democracy, to address the hypocrisy of the unelected men in Brussels, to demand the release of their political prisoners and to show that Catalonia can save the EU – not the other way around,” Bernard Daelemans of ICEC Flanders told Bruzz.

The 2,000 will march in the morning from Montgomery to Cinquantenaire, where they will hold an open-air rally. Some members will then attend a conference with MEP Mark Demesmaeker (N-VA). In the evening it is expected that Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, in Brussels since 30 October, will join the party.

Photo: Catalan mayors march at Berlaymont earlier this month
©Dirk Waem/BELGA