Catalan separatists rally as movement frays 5 years on

By JOSEPH WILSON
Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Around 150,000 Catalan separatists have rallying in Barcelona in an attempt to reignite the independence movement that is fraying as it nears the five-year anniversary of its failed breakaway bid from Spain. The unity between political parties and the civil society groups that led the October 2017 independence push is in danger of falling apart. The civil group organizing Sunday’s march is strongly opposed to the talks that the Catalan government is holding with Spain’s central government in Madrid. That has led Catalonia’s regional president to announce that he will be the first Catalan president to not attend the annual march for independence.