00:00And every September 11th, hundreds of thousands of people celebrate Catalonia's National Day,
00:05known as La Diada, with large gatherings in the streets.
00:08This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the first major demonstration
00:12celebrating the date after the Franco dictatorship ended.
00:16Now let's take a closer look with our correspondent, Andrés Flores.
00:24La Diada recuerda la caída de Barcelona.
00:27La Diada commemorates the fall of Barcelona to Philip Vav's troops in 1714,
00:31at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession.
00:34This defeat led to the dissolution of Catalan institutions.
00:37Since then, the anniversary has served as a day of national vindication.
00:47For me, being here on September 11th means reliving a Catalan defeat
00:51like the ones we have suffered throughout history.
00:56For as long as I can remember, about 40 years,
00:59I have attended these demonstrations every September 11th.
01:07We sing the same songs and fight with the same desire and spirit
01:10to one day become independent.
01:18Since I was old enough to reason,
01:26I'd say around 16 or 17,
01:30I have honored those who died in the siege of Barcelona in 1714
01:33when the Franco-Spanish army invaded Catalonia.
01:40The massive diada that we know today was revived after the dictatorship.
01:44In 1976, one year after the death of dictator Francisco Franco,
01:48the first major legal demonstration on September 11th
01:50was held in Saint-Buy-de-Lobregat.
01:52This year marks the 50th anniversary.
01:59I was very young when Francoism fell.
02:04I don't remember the Catalanist movement of that era very well.
02:10However, it's true that it opened the country to a series of freedoms
02:13and allowed us to more strongly defend our culture,
02:18which was heavily repressed by the dictatorship.
02:23Half a century later,
02:25the pro-independence movement is experiencing another phase
02:27after the failed process that led to the banned 2017 referendum
02:31and the strong response from the state.
02:33Added to this situation is an internal dispute,
02:35the rise of a far-right that claims Catalan identity for itself
02:39versus a leftist movement that interprets Catalan identity
02:41as anti-racist and popular.
02:43In the streets, many people experience this anniversary
02:46as a low point from which they are trying to recover.
02:52We reached a pivotal moment
02:55and then things ended the way they did.
02:57Now, we're still in the intensive care unit, so to speak.
03:01I think we're starting to emerge,
03:03but after such a disappointment like
03:07the one we had,
03:08it's hard to regain our footing.
03:17I hope we recover from the slump
03:19after the Spanish state punished us
03:20for organizing a referendum in 2017.
03:30We hope to rise again
03:31and demand what we have always wanted.
03:35La Diada is an event
03:36that continues to set the political pulse of Catalonia
03:39even half a century after reclaiming the streets.
03:41André Flores, Telesur, Barcelona.
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