The Sant Jordi per la Llengua platform has called demonstrations for April 23 with the aim of denouncing the decline of Catalan and the increase in linguistic discrimination. The main mobilization is planned for Plaça Universitat in Barcelona and will take place in parallel in other Catalan cities.
The 2025 call will be the second consecutive year in which this collective promotes a day of protest with the intention of activating citizens in the face of what it defines as a linguistic emergency situation. In addition to the Catalan capital, there will be concentrations and marches in Girona, Reus, Tortosa, Manresa and Igualada.
Call in Barcelona and other cities
The central protest will be held in the vicinity of Universitat square, one of the usual points of mobilization in the center of Barcelona during Sant Jordi day. The platform has extended the call to other municipalities with the purpose of giving a territorial dimension to the day.
- Barcelona
- Girona
- Reus
- Tortosa
- Manresa
- Igualada
The appeal has the support of about thirty civil and social entities, among them Òmnium Cultural, Plataforma per la Llengua and Sindicat de Llogateres.
The spokespersons place the focus on the situation of Catalan
The spokespersons of Sant Jordi per la Llengua, Adrià Font and Núria Alcaraz, have framed the mobilization in the will to combat the regression of the social use of the language and also what they have defined as a reactionary discourse. Both have also rejected the idea that the growth of the social use of Catalan will come through immigration.
"We know that right now, today, compared to last year, there is a lower percentage of people who habitually use Catalan and that the language continues to recede in many spaces of daily life. But at the same time, one thing has changed. This year social awareness has grown, the awareness that the language is in danger and that it must be defended" - Núria Alcaraz, spokesperson for Sant Jordi per la Llengua
In the same appearance, Alcaraz maintained that more and more people understand that Catalan is not just a language, but also an element of social cohesion and of future for the country.
"Because increasingly there are more people who understand that Catalan is not just a language, but that it is the pillar that builds the Catalan nation, which the Spanish State has been trying to erase for more than 300 years, while also being a tool for social cohesion, regulation and future for the country" - Núria Alcaraz, spokesperson for Sant Jordi per la Llengua
Second edition of a mobilization for the language
The platform thus faces the second edition of this call with the intention of consolidating a protest event coinciding with April 23. Barcelona will have the main event in Universitat Square, while the rest of the cities will add mobilizations on a day that seeks to make visible the concern of the convening entities for the evolution of Catalan in everyday life.