Thousands take to the streets to mark Catalonia's annual national day
Catalonia’s annual Diada, or national day, was marked on Monday with huge protests calling for its independence from Spain.
The Diada commemorates the fall of Barcelona in the Spanish war of succession in 1714, but since 2012 has been marked by calls for Catalonia’s secession from Spain.
The event is being celebrated this year under the name “la Diada del Si,” Catalan for the “National Day of Yes.”
Monday’s celebrations are particularly significant because they come just weeks before the regional government stages an independence referendum, which has been declared illegal by the Spanish Constitutional Court.
Follow how the event happened: