2010 Catalan autonomy protest

2010 Catalan autonomy protest
The protest in the intersection of Passeig de Gràcia and Aragó Avenues.
Date	10 July 2010
Location	Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 41°23′07″N 2°10′36″E / 41.3854°N 2.1767°E / 41.3854; 2.1767Coordinates: 41°23′07″N 2°10′36″E / 41.3854°N 2.1767°E / 41.3854; 2.1767
Methods	Protest march, street protest

The 2010 Catalan autonomy protest was a demonstration in central Barcelona on 10 July 2010 against limitations of the autonomy of Catalonia within Spain, and particularly against a recent decision of the Spanish Constitutional Court to annul or reinterpret several articles of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. The number of people taking part in the demonstration was estimated at between 1.1 million (according to the local police) and 1.5 million (according to the organisers), while Madrid-based newspaper El País estimated the number of demonstrators at 425,000. The mobilisation was described as "unprecedented" by the mayor of Barcelona. The Barcelona daily newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya described it as "without a doubt one of the biggest protest marches that has ever occurred in Catalonia, possibly the biggest".

The demonstration was led by a banner with the slogan in Catalan Som una nació. Nosaltres decidim. (in English, "We are a nation. We decide.").

A new Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia was a key promise by Socialist candidate José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the run-up to the 2003 Catalan parliamentary election and the 2004 Spanish general elections. The new Statute was approved by 91% of the Parliament of Catalonia, by the Cortes Generales (parliament of Spain), albeit in a curtailed form, and finally by the electors of Catalonia in a referendum on 18 June 2006 (73.24% in favour on a turnout of 48.85%).