Catalan separatists take to the streets as crucial vote nears
By Julien Toyer BARCELONA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands will pack the streets of Barcelona on Friday to call for Catalonia to break away from Spain, two weeks before a regional election seen as a "make-or-break" moment for the independence movement. Close to 500,000 people have registered to form a white "human mosaic" symbolising a blank page and the new country they hope to build after the Sept. 27 election, portrayed by local authorities as a proxy vote on secession. Friday marks Catalonia's national day - or "Diada" - as well as the launch of the official political campaign in the northeastern region, which accounts for nearly one fifth of Spain's output and population. A closely-watched poll on Thursday suggested the struggle over Catalan independence was set to intensify. Separatist parties were on track to achieve the slimmest of majorities in the regional parliament. "This year's National Day of Catalonia is particularly special because, in a short while, the campaign leading to the celebration of the upcoming September 27 elections will begin," said Artur Mas, the head of the regional government in a televised address. "In your hands, lie the power and the tool which will shape the political future of this Nation: the vote," he said. If separatist parties win at least 68 seats in the 135-member Catalan parliament they would trigger a "road map" to secession within 18 months. But a failure to achieve a majority of votes and seats would deal a serious blow to the movement, which has been losing steam since a symbolic referendum on independence last year. The state-run Sociological Research Centre poll showed separatist parties, including Junts pel Si and the more radical, left-wing CUP, achieving a combined vote of around 44 percent and 68-69 seats - the narrowest possible majority. Spain's centre-right Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy fiercely opposes both the attempts to turn the Catalan election into a proxy vote on independence and the idea of secession itself, which he has called a "nonsense". His government, which went to court last year to block a referendum on Catalonian secession, tabled a bill last week for an urgent reform of Spain's constitutional court that would give it enough clout to stop any unilateral declaration of independence. (Reporting by Julien Toyer; editing by Andrew Roche)
