Catalans fired up by Scotland's independence referendum massed in Barcelona's streets in red and yellow shirts today, forming a giant "V" to demand a vote on breaking away from Spain.
Drawn up in lines of red and yellow to form stripes with the Catalan colours, hundreds of thousands of flag-waving demonstrators of all ages massed in the sunshine to mark Catalonia's national day, the Diada.
The commemoration, which marks the Spanish conquest of Catalonia in 1714, was more sensitive than ever this year, coming amid calls for a November 9 vote on Catalan independence.
An official from Barcelona's nationalist-led city hall told reporters it estimated turnout for the demonstration at 1.8 million, but central government officials put the figure much lower.
The Spanish government delegation in Catalonia calculated the figure at between 470,000 and 520,000, it said in a statement.
Scotland's September 18 referendum has stirred up Catalans who want full sovereignty for their region in the northeast of Spain, a move fiercely opposed by the central government.
"November 9 we will vote. November 9 we will win," read a banner at the head of today's rally, which filled two converging central avenues in Barcelona.
"Nothing would thrill me more than for my first vote to be for the independence of Catalonia," said one demonstrator, 16-year-old Laura Sanchez Lora.
"Now more than ever, Catalonia needs a state that will defend its language, its culture and its economy," she said, waving a Catalan independence flag: red and yellow stripes, plus a white star on a blue background.
As the V-for-vote formed to the singing of a choir and cheers from the crowd, a girl at the head of the rally placed a paper in a symbolic ballot box.
Spain's national government has branded the November vote illegal and vowed to block it, but Catalonia's regional president Artur Mas has vowed to push on with the plan.
