People wave 'Esteladas' (pro-independence Catalan flags) as they gather during a pro-independence demonstration, on September 11, 2017 in Barcelona during the National Day of Catalonia, the "Diada."
Hundreds of thousands of Catalans were expected to rally to demand their region break away from Spain, in a show of strength three weeks ahead of a secession referendum banned by Madrid. The protest coincides with Catalonia's national day, the "Diada," which commemorates the fall of Barcelona in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714 and the region's subsequent loss of institutions and freedoms.
 / AFP PHOTO / PAU BARRENA        (Photo credit should read PAU BARRENA/AFP/Getty Images)
How Catalonia's independence crisis unfolded
02:24 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

Catalan independence referendum has stoked fierce divisions across Spain

Protesters in white rally in Barcelona and Madrid, but anti-separatists also march

Barcelona, Spain CNN  — 

Large crowds turned out Saturday in Barcelona to call for dialogue to resolve rising tensions surrounding last weekend’s banned Catalan independence referendum.

Dressed in white and holding white balloons to signify a desire for peaceful negotiation, people on both sides of the issue urged regional and national politicians to find a peaceful way out of the crisis.

Some held handwritten signs aloft saying “Let’s talk” or “The streets belong to all.”

Neither Catalan nor Spanish flags could be seen at the rally, the latest in a series to be held in Barcelona, capital of the wealthy northeastern Catalonia region.

A woman shows her hands painted in white at a rally Saturday in Barcelona calling for dialogue.

Mercè Remolí, 64, a retired journalist, told CNN the protesters were dressing in white to avoid “flags taking over the conversation.”

The referendum, ruled illegal by the country’s highest court, has stoked fierce divisions in Catalonia and across Spain, with neither the Catalan regional government nor the government in Madrid willing to give ground.

It remains unclear whether Catalan President Carles Puigdemont will seek to declare independence for the region next week.

People show their hands painted in white during a demonstration Saturday in Madrid urging dialogue.

Another pro-dialogue demonstrator, lab technician Antonio Gomez, 52, told CNN he was pessimistic about what might happen next.

He said Puigdemont was cornered “between the sword and the wall” because if he turns back now, those who back independence will want him out of power.

Protesters dressed in white also rallied Saturday in Madrid, calling for dialogue.

But in a sign of the simmering divisions, large numbers of people poured into Spain’s capital for an anti-separatist demonstration. There, the red and yellow national flag was widely in evidence.

Protesters with Spanish flags gather Saturday in Madrid to demonstrate against Catalan independence.

More demonstrations are expected through the weekend.

Faced with the prospect of an extraordinary rupture, the Spanish government is weighing its options. One is to invoke emergency powers under Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which allows Madrid to impose direct rule on a region if it acts outside the law.

Madrid’s representative to Catalonia apologized Friday for the violence during Sunday’s vote. Hundreds of people were injured then as police tried to prevent the referendum from going ahead.

In the first note of contrition by a Spanish government representative, Enric Millo told broadcaster Catalan TV3: “I insist, I’m really sorry, I want to apologize because I wouldn’t wish anything like that to happen to any person, the fact that people got hit and required assistance.”

In Barcelona, Catalan authorities published official results from Sunday’s referendum, showing 90% voted in favor of independence and nearly 8% against, with about 2% of ballots left blank. The turnout was 43% – nearly 2.3 million people voting out of a possible 5.3 million.

A session of the Catalan Parliament will be held Tuesday to discuss the “current political situation,” a Parliament spokesman said. The Spanish Constitutional Court had banned a session of the Catalan Parliament planned for Monday in an apparent attempt to prevent Puigdemont’s expected declaration of independence.

CNN’s Vasco Cotovio reported from Barcelona, and Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London. CNN’s Atika Shubert contributed to this report.