About 300 people have demonstrated this Sant Jordi in Girona to demand measures in defense of Catalan in a march called by the platform Sant Jordi per la Llengua, according to the count of the Municipal Police.
The mobilization has started in the Correus building and has advanced through Jaume I and carrer Nou to Plaça Independència, where a manifesto has been read at the end of the route. The call has been held for the first time in a coordinated manner at a national level with simultaneous protests in Barcelona, Reus, Manresa and Igualada.
Tour through the center of Girona
The protest has gathered representatives from parties such as Esquerra Republicana, Guanyem Girona and the CUP, as well as unions such as USTEC, Sindicat de Llogateres and SEPC. Also attending have been entities such as the ANC, Òmnium and the Consell Local per la República.
During the march, the spokesperson for the platform, Jordi Tomàs, has demanded actions to "stop and reverse" the regression of the language. In that context, he has insisted that the mobilization seeks to open a broader social debate on the use of Catalan.
"First it must be stopped and then reversed" - Jordi Tomàs, spokesperson for Sant Jordi per la Llengua
"It serves to raise awareness in society, but the involvement of citizens and institutions is also needed" - Jordi Tomàs, spokesperson for Sant Jordi per la Llengua
Manifesto in the Plaça Independència
The event has ended in Plaça Independència with the reading of a text supported by about fifty entities, parties and associations from Girona. The manifesto has warned about the situation of Catalan and has recalled that "The Survey of Linguistic Uses shows that only one third of the population of Catalonia has Catalan as their usual language of use".
Jordi Tomàs has also lashed out at the PSC for voting, in his words, "alongside VOX and PP" on a proposal promoted by the CUP to regulate linguistic uses. The protest in Girona has thus been framed within a Sant Jordi day with simultaneous mobilizations in several Catalan cities to demand more measures for the protection and promotion of the language.