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Pro-Unity Spaniards March with Facetious Movement in Barcelona

by VOA News

   Thousands of Spaniards for unity marched Sunday in Barcelona in support
   of a grassroots group that mocks Catalonia's separatist movement.
   The group, "Platform for Tabarnia," facetiously calls for the secession
   of the cities of Barcelona and Tarragona from Catalonia - allowing them
   to remain in Spain as the rest of Catalonia calls for secession.
   Under the slogan "the joke is over -- long live Tabarnia," as many as
   15,000 pro-unity Spaniards waving flags of Spain and the fictitious
   Tabarnia took to Barcelona streets.
   The group also employs the slogan, "Barcelona is not Catalonia," a
   twist on the state's secessionist slogan, "Catalonia is not Spain."
   Political unrest has rocked Catalonia since it unsuccessfully tried to
   secede from Spain in September.Independence parties maintained a slim
   majority in the state following December elections, but leader Carles
   Puigdemont is exiled in Brussels, while other former leaders are in
   jail.